Data Transfer
Convert between megabits per second, megabytes per second and their kilo and giga multiples.
Data Transfer Converter
Professional grade conversion for data transfer units.
Conversion Formula
1 Mbps ≈ 0.125 MB/s
What Data Transfer does
Internet connections are sold in megabits per second while download managers report megabytes per second, and the two differ by a factor of eight. That single fact explains most complaints that a connection is slower than advertised.
A 100 Mbps connection can deliver at most about 12.5 MB/s, so a browser reporting 11 MB/s is performing normally, not badly.
- Bits per second: Kbps, Mbps, Gbps
- Bytes per second: KB/s, MB/s, GB/s
How to use Data Transfer
- 1
Enter the value
Type the amount you want to convert. The result updates as you type.
- 2
Select the units
Choose what your value is in and what you want it in, for example Mbps to MB/s.
- 3
Copy the result
The copy button gives you the unformatted number, without thousands separators, ready to paste into a spreadsheet or code.
Example
What a connection speed means for a download
Input
100 Mbps connectionOutput
= 12.5 MB/s theoretical maximum
1 GB file ≈ 80 seconds at full speedReal transfers are slower because of protocol overhead, latency, and limits at the server you are downloading from.
Limits and known behaviour
- These are raw rate conversions. Actual throughput is lower because of protocol overhead, typically several percent for TCP over Ethernet.
- Advertised broadband speeds are usually maximums under ideal conditions, not guarantees.
- Note the capitalisation convention: a lowercase b is bits and an uppercase B is bytes, so Mbps and MB/s differ by a factor of eight.
- Wireless throughput varies constantly with signal quality and congestion.
- Arithmetic uses double-precision floating point, so a converted value can end in a small representation residue. That is a property of binary arithmetic, not of the conversion factor.
Privacy and data handling
Runs entirely in your browser
- The conversion is arithmetic performed in this page. Nothing you enter is transmitted or stored.
- The tool works offline once the page has loaded.
Site-wide data handling, including analytics and advertising, is described in the privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my download slower than my advertised speed?
First convert the units: a 100 Mbps line tops out at 12.5 MB/s. Beyond that, protocol overhead, the distance to the server, congestion and the server's own limits all reduce real throughput.
Why are connections sold in bits rather than bytes?
Networking has always measured in bits per second, because it describes signalling on the wire. Storage measures in bytes. The conventions come from different traditions and both persist.