Network Speed Converter — Mbps to MB/s, Gbps to GB/s and More
Our free network speed converter instantly converts between all network speed units: bps, Kbps, Mbps, Gbps, Tbps, B/s, KB/s, MB/s and GB/s. The most common source of confusion in IT is the difference between megabits per second (Mbps) and megabytes per second (MB/s) — our converter makes it instantly clear.
Megabits vs Megabytes — The Most Confusing Thing in Networking
Internet speeds are advertised in megabits per second (Mbps) using a lowercase 'b'. File sizes and transfer rates in your operating system are shown in megabytes per second (MB/s) using an uppercase 'B'. Since 1 byte = 8 bits, you must divide your Mbps speed by 8 to get MB/s. A 1 Gbps connection transfers files at approximately 125 MB/s — not 1,000 MB/s.
Common Network Speed Reference
- 100 Mbps — Fast Ethernet — 12.5 MB/s — legacy office standard
- 1 Gbps — Gigabit Ethernet — 125 MB/s — current office standard
- 2.5 Gbps — Wi-Fi 6 / 2.5G LAN — 312.5 MB/s — high-performance workstations
- 10 Gbps — 10GbE — 1,250 MB/s — server interconnects and storage
- 25/40/100 Gbps — Data centre backbone speeds
- 400 Gbps — Modern data centre spine and cloud provider core links
Why Do ISPs Advertise in Mbps?
ISPs advertise in megabits because the numbers look larger and more impressive than megabytes. A "100 Mbps" broadband package sounds faster than "12.5 MB/s" — even though they are identical. When comparing ISP packages, always divide by 8 to understand the actual file transfer speed you'll experience.