How many bytes are in a gigabyte (decimal) and in a gibibyte (binary), and what are their values?

How many bytes are in a gigabyte (decimal) and in a gibibyte (binary), and what are their values?

• A. 1,000,000,000 bytes in a GB; 1,073,741,824 bytes in a GiB.
• B. 1,024,000,000 bytes in a gigabyte; 1,000,000,000 bytes in a gibibyte.
• C. 1,073,741,824 bytes in a gigabyte; 1,000,000,000 bytes in a gibibyte.
• D. 1,000,000,000 bytes in a gigabyte; 1,024,000,000 bytes in a gibibyte.

Answer: (A)

Different size prefixes use different bases. A decimal gigabyte is defined with powers of ten, so it equals 1,000,000,000 bytes. A gibibyte uses powers of two, specifically 2^30 bytes, which is 1,073,741,824 bytes. So the correct pairing is 1,000,000,000 bytes for a gigabyte and 1,073,741,824 bytes for a gibibyte. The binary size comes from 2^30, which equals 1024 cubed, not 1,024,000,000.

Different size prefixes use different bases. A decimal gigabyte is defined with powers of ten, so it equals 1,000,000,000 bytes. A gibibyte uses powers of two, specifically 2^30 bytes, which is 1,073,741,824 bytes. So the correct pairing is 1,000,000,000 bytes for a gigabyte and 1,073,741,824 bytes for a gibibyte. The binary size comes from 2^30, which equals 1024 cubed, not 1,024,000,000.