Why is 1 KB 1024 bytes?

Mathematics and computer science are often about bits and bytes, but 1 KB are not always 1024 bytes. We'll show you what's behind it.

1 KB = 1024 or 1000 bytes?

According to the international system of units SI (Système international d'unités), the prefix Kilo stands for a thousand times, Mega for millions and Giga for billions of a unit.
1 kilobyte (KByte) should therefore correspond to 1000 bytes, but in practice it is 1024 bytes. A megabyte (MByte) also does not correspond to 1, 000, 000 bytes, but 1, 048, 576 bytes.
This is due to the fact that a binary system is used in computer language, everything essentially consists of zeros and ones. If we multiply the 2 bytes 10 times by ourselves, we get the known 1024 bytes. The term KiloByte is thus formally wrong, but has become common.

The sizes of files, memory and the capacity of CDs are still given as usual in the formally incorrect format 1 KB = 1024 bytes.
However, the situation is different for hard drives, DVDs and BluRays. Here the manufacturers must adhere to the SI standard, so that the calculation here is 1 KB = 1000 bytes. This also creates confusion.
In order to resolve this confusion, a new standard was created in 2000. A kB is 1000 bytes, a KiB is 1024 bytes. However, this designation could not really prevail in any area.
So there will still be a lot of confusion in the future. The difference is particularly important in mathematics, but it is extremely unclear. It all depends on the context: in computer science you can usually calculate with 1024 bytes, in mathematics it is often 1000 bytes.

In the next practical tip, we will show you the difference between bit and byte.