Editing Gigabyte (section)

==Definition==
The term ''gigabyte'' has a standard definition of 1000<sup>3</sup> bytes, as well as a discouraged<ref name="Order Granting Motion to Dismiss">{{cite web |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/flashdrives.pdf |title=Order Granting Motion to Dismiss |publisher=[[United States District Court]] |access-date = 2020-01-24}}</ref> meaning of 1024<sup>3</sup> bytes. The latter binary usage originated as compromise technical jargon for byte [[SI prefix|multiples]] that needed to be expressed in a power of 2, but lacked a convenient name. As 1024 (2<sup>10</sup>) is approximately 1000 (10<sup>3</sup>), roughly corresponding to SI multiples, it was used for binary multiples as well.

In 1998 the [[International Electrotechnical Commission]] (IEC) published standards for [[binary prefix]]es, requiring that the gigabyte strictly denote 1000<sup>3</sup> [[bytes]] and [[gibibyte]] denote 1024<sup>3</sup> bytes. By the end of 2007, the IEC Standard had been adopted by the [[IEEE]], [[European Union|EU]], and [[NIST]], and in 2009 it was incorporated in the [[IEC 80000-13|International System of Quantities]]. Nevertheless, the term gigabyte continues to be widely used with the following two different meanings:

===Base 10 (decimal)===
* 1 GB = {{gaps|1|000|000|000}} bytes (= 1000<sup>3</sup> B = 10<sup>9</sup> B)
Based on powers of 10, this definition uses the prefix giga- as defined in the [[International System of Units]] (SI). This is the recommended definition by the [[International Electrotechnical Commission]] (IEC).<ref name="NIST">http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html Prefixes for binary multiples</ref> This definition is used in [[computer network|networking]] contexts and most [[storage media]], particularly [[hard drive]]s, [[Flash memory|flash]]-based storage,<ref name="sandisk_gigabyte">[http://apac.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1349)-SanDisk_Extreme_Ducati_Edition_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx SanDisk USB Flash Drive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513155718/http://apac.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog%281349%29-SanDisk_Extreme_Ducati_Edition_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx |date=13 May 2008 }} "Note: 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes; 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes."</ref><ref name="kingston_gigabyte">[http://www.kingston.com/en/usb/storage_chart Storage Chart] "Megabyte (MB) = 1,000,000 bytes; 1 Gigabyte (GB) = 1,000,000,000 bytes; 1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes"</ref> and [[DVD]]s, and is also consistent with the other uses of the [[SI prefix]] in computing, such as [[Megahertz#Megahertz in computing|CPU clock speeds]] or [[FLOPS|measures of performance]]. The file manager of [[Mac OS X]] version 10.6 and later versions are a notable example of this usage in software, which report files sizes in decimal units.<ref name="Apple Inc">{{cite web|url=http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2419 |title=How Mac OS X reports drive capacity |publisher=Apple Inc |date=2009-08-27 |access-date=2009-10-16}}</ref>

===Base 2 (binary)===
* 1 GiB = {{gaps|1|073|741|824}} bytes (= 1024<sup>3</sup> B = 2<sup>30</sup> B).
The binary definition uses powers of the base 2, as does the architectural principle of [[Binary code|binary]] [[computer]]s.
This usage is widely promulgated by some [[operating system]]s, such as [[Microsoft Windows]] in reference to [[computer memory]] (e.g., [[random-access memory|RAM]]). This definition is synonymous with the unambiguous unit [[gibibyte]].