Kbits

Kbits, short for kilobits, are a unit of information used to measure data size and data transfer rates. One kilobit typically equals 1,000 bits in the SI decimal convention. In many networking and communications contexts, kilobits per second (kbps) are used to describe speed, such as download or upload rates.

There is a historical and technical distinction between decimal and binary usage. While 1 kbit = 1,000 bits in most modern specifications, some older or binary-oriented sources use 1 kibit to denote 1,024 bits. The binary prefix for such cases is kibibit (Kibit), and kibibits per second (Kibit/s) is sometimes used for binary-based measurements. For practical purposes, most consumer networking equipment and service plans present speeds in kilobits per second (kbps) with the decimal basis.

Conversions involving kilobits are common. Since 1 byte equals 8 bits, 1 kilobit per second corresponds to 0.125 kilobytes per second. Conversely, 1,000 kilobits per second equals 1 megabit per second (Mbps) in decimal terms. This relationship helps convert between data rates and data transfer over time, such as calculating how long a file will take to download at a given speed.

Kbits are widely used to express network bandwidth, dial-up speeds, and some digital storage indicators. When precision is required, it is important to distinguish between kilobits (kbits) and kibibits (Kibit), and to specify per-second rates as kbps or Kibit/s to avoid ambiguity.