Convert megabytes to megabits

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1 MB is 8 Mbit, because a byte has eight bits. Type a number of megabytes and the converter gives it in megabits, the unit used for the capacity of memory chips and older game cartridges.

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What are a megabyte and a megabit?

A megabyte (MB) is a million bytes, and every byte is made of eight bits. A megabit (Mbit, often written Mb) is a million bits, so it holds an eighth as much data. The same file therefore always shows a number eight times larger in megabits than in megabytes.

When the letters are all you have, the case tells them apart: MB means megabytes and Mb means megabits. A speed in Mb/s is another quantity, because it counts the megabits that pass each second rather than the data something can hold.

How many megabits are in a megabyte?

1 MB is 8 Mbit. The formula is Mbit = MB × 8, so 4 MB is 32 Mbit and 16 MB is 128 Mbit. The answer is the same whether you count in decimal or in binary, because both units share the M prefix and only the byte, eight bits, separates them.

In Excel, use =CONVERT(A2,"Mbyte","Mbit")[1]. The Mbit to MB converter works the other way, plain bytes turn into bits in the bytes to bits converter, and the data unit converter handles any other pair, including whole megabytes to bits.

What did MAX 330 MEGA on the Neo Geo mean?

When it started, SNK's Neo Geo showed the words "Max 330 Mega Pro-Gear Spec". They meant that a cartridge could hold up to 330 megabits of data, and games larger than 100 megabits later showed a "The 100Mega Shock!" screen as well[2]. In megabytes that is 41.25 MB for the upper limit and 12.5 MB for the 100-megabit games.

Nintendo 64 cartridges were already described in megabytes, from 4 to 64 MB[3]. That is 32 to 512 Mbit, so the largest N64 cartridge held 64 MB, more than one and a half times the 41.25 MB of the original Neo Geo specification.

A black Neo Geo AES cartridge with a grey label area and ribbing along the bottom of the case
A cartridge for the Neo Geo AES, the home version of the console, with a blank label area. The specification allowed up to 330 Mbit per game, which is 41.25 MB. Photo: Evan-Amos, public domain.

How many megabits is a given number of megabytes?

The results are always exact, because multiplying by 8 needs no rounding.
MegabytesMegabits
0.125 MB1 Mbit
0.25 MB2 Mbit
0.5 MB4 Mbit
1 MB8 Mbit
1.5 MB12 Mbit
2 MB16 Mbit
3 MB24 Mbit
4 MB32 Mbit
6 MB48 Mbit
8 MB64 Mbit
10 MB80 Mbit
12.5 MB100 Mbit
16 MB128 Mbit
32 MB256 Mbit
41.25 MB330 Mbit
64 MB512 Mbit
100 MB800 Mbit
128 MB1,024 Mbit
Pimoroni sells the same breakout in a larger version, listed as “W25Q128 - 128 MBit / 16 MByte”[4]. That is the 16 MB row.

Which ways of writing megabytes does this converter accept?

Type or paste the number of megabytes as you have it: with a decimal point, with commas between thousands, as a fraction or together with a unit. The field reads each of these and converts it for you, and the table shows exactly what it does with each one. The converter worked out every result itself.
What you typeWhat the converter showsHow we read it
0.54 MbitThe point marks the decimal part, so the field holds half a megabyte.
0,54 MbitA comma before a single digit can only be a decimal comma, as used across most of Europe, so the result is the same as for 0.5.
1,50012,000 MbitA comma before three digits separates thousands, so we count one thousand five hundred megabytes. A hint appears below the field in case you meant 1.5.
41.25330 MbitTwo decimal places are enough to reach the upper limit of a Neo Geo cartridge.
2½20 MbitA ½ sign copied from text is added to the number in front of it, so we count two and a half megabytes.
1e38,000 MbitScientific notation from a spreadsheet is read as it stands: 1e3 is a thousand megabytes.
4 MB32 MbitThe MB symbol after the number is dropped, because it is the field's own unit.
64 megabytes512 MbitThe full unit name after the number is dropped too, so we count 64 megabytes.
330 Mbit330 MbitMegabits pasted into the megabyte field become 41.25 MB, a line below the field says so, and the result comes back as 330 Mbit.

Convert Megabytes to other units

MB to KBMB to GBMB to MiB

Sources

  1. CONVERT function — Microsoft
  2. Neo Geo — Wikipedia
  3. Nintendo 64 Game Pak — Wikipedia
  4. Adafruit SPI FLASH Breakout W25Q128 - 128 MBit / 16 MByte — Pimoroni

Every figure in the tables was computed from the unit definitions and checked arithmetically before publication. Historical values and the names of local units come from the sources listed above.

Content last reviewed: · written and checked by the Arteon team

Frequently asked questions about megabytes and megabits

How many megabits are in a gigabyte?

A gigabyte is 1,000 MB in the decimal standard or 1,024 MB in the binary one, so multiplying by 8 gives 8,000 or 8,192 Mbit.

Arteon free tool screenshot: Convert megabytes to megabits

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