Bytes and Megabytes

A bit is a binary digit. It is a zero or a one. The computer stores everything as a series of bits. Each character you type into a computer is stored as an eight bit number.

Eight bits is called one byte. A computer can store one character in one byte of memory. Bytes are a measure for the storage capacity of a computer’s memory.

1024 bytes	= 1 Kilobyte (Kb)
1024 kilobytes	= 1 Megabyte (Mb)	= 20 document images or 500 text pages.
1024 megabytes	= 1 Gigabyte (Gb)	= 20,000 images or 500,000 text pages.
1024 gigabytes	= 1 Terabyte (Tb)	= 20 million images or 500 million text pages.
1024 terabytes	= 1 Pentabyte (Pb)	= 20 billion images or 500 billion text pages.
1024 pentabytes	= 1 Exabyte (Eb)	= 20 trillion images or 500 trillion text pages.
1024 exabytes	= 1 Zettabyte (Zb)	= 20 quadrillion images or 500 quadrillion pages.
1024 zettabytes	= 1 Yottabyte	= 20 quintillion images or 500 quintillion text pages.

1 page of computer text needs approximately 2 K’s of storage. An average document image needs 50 K’s of storage.

To print 1 terabyte of text on paper would consume 42,500 trees.