Editing Byte (section)

=== Units based on powers of 10 ===
Definition of prefixes using powers of 10—in which 1 ''kilobyte'' (symbol kB) is defined to equal 1,000 bytes—is recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).<ref name="NIST">[http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html Prefixes for Binary Multiples] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808000831/http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html |date=2007-08-08 }} — The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty</ref> The IEC standard defines eight such multiples, up to 1 yottabyte (YB), equal to 1000<sup>8</sup> bytes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Matsuoka |first1=Satoshi |last2=Sato |first2=Hitoshi |last3=Tatebe |first3=Osamu |last4=Koibuchi |first4=Michihiro |last5=Fujiwara |first5=Ikki |last6=Suzuki |first6=Shuji |last7=Kakuta |first7=Masanori |last8=Ishida |first8=Takashi |last9=Akiyama |first9=Yutaka |last10=Suzumura |first10=Toyotaro |last11=Ueno |first11=Koji |date=2014-09-15 |title=Extreme Big Data (EBD): Next Generation Big Data Infrastructure Technologies Towards Yottabyte/Year |url=https://superfri.org/index.php/superfri/article/view/24 |journal=Supercomputing Frontiers and Innovations |language=en |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=89–107 |doi=10.14529/jsfi140206 |issn=2313-8734 |access-date=2022-05-27 |archive-date=2022-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313085857/https://superfri.org/index.php/superfri/article/view/24 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> The additional prefixes ''ronna-'' for 1000<sup>9</sup> and ''quetta-'' for 1000<sup>10</sup> were adopted by the [[International Bureau of Weights and Measures]] (BIPM) in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=List of Resolutions for the 27th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures |url=https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/64811223/Resolutions-2022.pdf |date=2022-11-18 |access-date=2022-11-18 |archive-date=2022-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118153958/https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/64811223/Resolutions-2022.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibney |first1=Elizabeth |date=18 November 2022 |title=How many yottabytes in a quettabyte? Extreme numbers get new names |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03747-9 |journal=Nature |volume= |issue= |pages= |doi=10.1038/d41586-022-03747-9 |pmid=36400954 |s2cid=253671538 |access-date=21 November 2022 |archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116065817/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03747-9 |url-status=live |issn = 0028-0836 }}</ref>

This definition is most commonly used for [[data-rate units]] in [[computer network]]s, internal bus, hard drive and flash media transfer speeds, and for the capacities of most [[storage media]], particularly [[hard drive]]s,<ref>1977 Disk/Trend Report Rigid Disk Drives, published June 1977</ref> [[Flash memory|flash]]-based storage,<ref>[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=2008-05-13 }} "Note: 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes; 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes."</ref> and [[DVD]]s.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} [[Operating system]]s that use this definition include [[macOS]],<ref name="apple">{{cite web |title=How iOS and macOS report storage capacity |url=https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201402 |website=Apple Support |access-date=9 January 2022 |language=en |date=27 February 2018 |archive-date=9 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409170256/https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201402 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[iOS]],<ref name="apple"/> [[Ubuntu]],<ref>{{cite web |title=UnitsPolicy |url=https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnitsPolicy |website=Ubuntu Wiki |publisher=Ubuntu |access-date=9 January 2022 |archive-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118114902/https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnitsPolicy |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Debian]].<ref>{{cite web |title=ConsistentUnitPrefixes |url=https://wiki.debian.org/ConsistentUnitPrefixes |website=Debian Wiki |access-date=9 January 2022 |archive-date=3 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203075715/https://wiki.debian.org/ConsistentUnitPrefixes |url-status=live }}</ref> It is also consistent with the other uses of the [[SI prefix]]es in computing, such as [[Hertz#Computers|CPU clock speeds]] or [[FLOPS|measures of performance]].

Prior art, the IBM System 360 and the related tape systems set the byte at 8 bits.<ref>http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/systemSummary/A22-6810-0_360sysSummary64.pdf#page=6</ref> Early 5.25-inch disks used decimal{{dubious|Units based on powers of 10|date=February 2025}} even though they used 128-byte and 256-byte sectors.<ref>https://docs.rs-online.com/41b6/0900766b8001b0a3.pdf#page=2</ref> Hard disks used mostly 256-byte and then 512-byte before 4096-byte blocks became standard.<ref>https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/collateral/white-paper/white-paper-advanced-format.pdf#page=3</ref> RAM was always sold in powers of 2.{{fact|date=February 2025}}