Data Unit Abbreviations

36 abbreviations · part of Units of Measurement Abbreviations

Abbreviations for units of digital information, data transfer rates, storage endurance, computing performance and display and print resolution. Two prefix systems coexist: decimal SI prefixes (kilo = 1,000), used by drive makers, carriers and network speeds, and binary IEC prefixes (kibi = 1,024), introduced in 1998 and used by many operating systems, which is why a "1 TB" drive shows up as about 931 GB in Windows. Case matters: a lowercase b means bit and a capital B means byte, eight times larger.

AbbreviationStands forDescription
bBitThe basic unit of digital information, a single binary digit with the value 0 or 1.
bpsBits per secondThe basic unit of data transfer rate, counting how many binary digits pass through a connection each second.
dpiDots per inchResolution of printers and scanners: the number of ink or toner dots, or scanned samples, per linear inch.
DWPDDrive writes per dayEnterprise SSD endurance metric giving how many times the drive's full capacity can be written each day over the warranty period.
EBExabyteOne quintillion bytes (10^18), a million terabytes, the scale of global internet traffic and hyperscale cloud storage.
EiBExbibyteExactly 2^60 bytes, about 1.153 exabytes.
FLOPSFloating-point operations per secondThe standard measure of computing performance for scientific, graphics and AI workloads, counting arithmetic operations on real numbers each second.
FPSFrames per secondNumber of individual images displayed or recorded each second in video, film and games; higher values give smoother motion.
GBGigabyteThe everyday unit for phone storage, memory, data plans and downloads: one billion bytes in the decimal sense used by manufacturers and carriers, or 1,073,741,824 bytes…
GbpsGigabits per secondOne billion bits per second, the tier of fiber-to-the-home plans, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6 and 7 links, and USB and Thunderbolt ports.
GiBGibibyteExactly 1,073,741,824 bytes (2^30), the IEC binary unit about 7.4 percent larger than a decimal gigabyte.
GT/sGigatransfers per secondBillions of transfers per second per lane, the unit for PCI Express and other high-speed serial links.
KBKilobyteA unit of digital storage equal to 1,000 bytes in the SI sense or 1,024 bytes in traditional computing usage.
kbpsKilobits per secondOne thousand bits per second, the scale of audio bitrates, dial-up modems and low-bandwidth IoT links.
KiBKibibyteExactly 1,024 bytes (2^10), the binary unit defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1998 to end the ambiguity of "kilobyte".
lpiLines per inchHalftone screen frequency in offset and newspaper printing: how many rows of halftone dots fit per inch.
MBMegabyteOne million bytes in decimal (SI) usage, or 1,048,576 bytes (2^20) in the traditional binary sense.
MB/sMegabytes per secondTransfer rate measured in megabytes rather than megabits, used for disk and SSD speeds, memory cards, file-copy dialogs and download managers.
MbpsMegabits per secondOne million bits per second, the standard unit for home broadband, mobile data and Wi-Fi speeds.
MiBMebibyteExactly 1,048,576 bytes (2^20), the IEC binary counterpart of the megabyte and about 4.9 percent larger than a decimal megabyte.
MPMegapixelOne million pixels, the unit used to describe the resolution of camera sensors and images.
MT/sMegatransfers per secondThe number of data transfers per second on a memory bus or interface, and the correct unit for DDR RAM speed.
PBPetabyteOne quadrillion bytes (10^15), or a thousand terabytes, the scale of enterprise storage, scientific archives and large data platforms.
PiBPebibyteExactly 2^50 bytes, about 1.126 petabytes, used in high-performance computing, storage system specifications and file-system limits.
PPIPixels per inchMeasure of display sharpness that counts how many pixels fit along one inch of screen; higher values mean finer detail at a given viewing distance.
PPMPages per minutePrinter speed rating stating how many single-sided pages a printer can output each minute, often listed separately for black-and-white and color.
pxPixelThe smallest addressable element of a digital image or screen, and a unit in web design and graphics software.
TBTerabyteOne trillion bytes in the decimal sense, the standard unit for hard drives, SSDs, backup plans and large data sets.
TbpsTerabits per secondTrillions of bits per second, the scale of submarine cables, internet backbones, data-center fabrics and the largest denial-of-service attacks.
TBWTerabytes writtenAn SSD endurance rating: the total data the manufacturer guarantees can be written to the drive during its warranty.
TFLOPSTeraflopsTrillion floating-point operations per second, the unit commonly used to compare graphics cards and game consoles.
TiBTebibyteExactly 2^40 bytes, 1,099,511,627,776, about 10 percent more than a decimal terabyte.
TOPSTera operations per secondTrillions of operations per second, the headline spec for neural processing units (NPUs) and AI accelerators, usually measured for low-precision integer math such as…
WPMWords per minuteMeasure of typing, reading or speaking speed; in typing tests a "word" is standardized as five characters, including spaces.
YBYottabyte10^24 bytes, a trillion terabytes.
ZBZettabyte10^21 bytes, a billion terabytes, the unit for estimates of all data created, captured and copied worldwide, which analysts now put in the low hundreds of zettabytes…

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