1024byte

1024 bytes is a data size equal to 2^10 bytes. It is a common quantity in computing, often encountered as a basic memory block, a small data unit, or a unit of transfer. Because binary addressing in computers uses powers of two, 1,024 bytes has long been treated as a practical kilobyte in many contexts, even though the terminology can be confusing.

Naming and prefixes: In 1998 the International Electrotechnical Commission introduced binary prefixes such as kibibyte (KiB) and mebibyte (MiB) to distinguish from decimal prefixes. Under these standards, 1 KiB equals 1,024 bytes. Some older hardware and software still use the term “KB” to mean 1,024 bytes, which can lead to ambiguity when comparing to decimal kilobytes (1,000 bytes) or larger units.

Usage: 1024-byte blocks appear in RAM memory, cache lines, and certain file-system block sizes. File sizes and data transfer counts may be described using KiB, MiB, and so on to avoid ambiguity; however, many interfaces and documents still display sizes using the traditional “KB” when binary usage is intended.

Conversions: 1024 bytes = 1 KiB = 2^10 bytes. It is approximately 0.0009766 MiB and 0.001024 MB in decimal terms, since 1 MiB equals 1,048,576 bytes and 1 MB equals 1,000,000 bytes.

See also: Kilobyte, Kibibyte, Byte.