Oldschool

What are Mbps and MBps?

For some, Mbps and MBps are like saying "no John, little John". But in reality, this capital "B" is 8 times bigger than the small "b".

Updated 12/07/2024

So there are Bits and Bytes. Bits are the smallest unit of data measurement, while Bytes are the smallest unit of space measurement. Each Byte consists of 8 Bits. So, where we see "Kb, Mb, Gb, Tb", it refers to bits, while where we see "KB, MB, GB, TB", it refers to Bytes.

Bits are either 0 or 1, known as the binary language. The language that computers understand. Each Byte is a sequence of 8 Bits that, depending on their combination, mean something.

For example: 01000110 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111

The above sequence of 6 Bytes consists of a total of 48 Bits. 48 "0 and 1", which make no sense to you! But for the computer, it means something. Just like it should for you, because what I wrote translates to "Follow" in ASCII * and asks you to follow me here on Skroutz.

*ASCII is the encoding of Latin characters and is used to display text on computers.

Where do we encounter Bits and where Bytes?

Bits are used when we talk about networks, for example, the speed of our Internet, while Bytes are used when we talk about "space" and file size.

So, if your internet speed is "100 Mbps", you are not downloading at 100 MB per second, but at 12.5 MBps.