Kibs

KiBs, short for kibibytes, is a binary unit of digital information equal to 2^10 bytes, or 1024 bytes. The standard symbol for a kibibyte is KiB, with KiBs used as the plural form. KiB belongs to a family of binary prefixes defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1998 to reduce confusion with decimal prefixes such as kilobyte (kB) or megabyte (MB).

In this system, 1 KiB equals 1024 bytes; 1 MiB equals 1024 KiB; 1 GiB equals 1024 MiB, and so on. This contrasts with decimal units where 1 KB, 1 MB, and 1 GB denote powers of 1000 (for example, 1 KB = 1000 bytes). Some software and hardware documentation mix these conventions, which can lead to ambiguity between KiB/MiB/GiB and KB/MB/GB, or require explicit labeling to avoid confusion.

Usage of KiBs is common in computing contexts that deal with memory and data sizes at the binary level, such as RAM capacities, cache sizes, and file fragments in certain operating systems and software tools. By contrast, many storage devices and network specifications present sizes using decimal prefixes (for example, hard drive capacities or data transfer rates expressed in KB/MB/GB or Mbps). When precise binary sizing is important, KiB and related units provide a clear standard for expressing memory-related quantities.