The kilobyte is a unit of information storage.
The term kilobyte does not appear in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) although its use is widespread in the field of computing . It is a unit of information storage, symbolized as kB or KB , which has different equivalences depending on its use.
There are, similarly, another series of measures established in the field of computing that has been determined by the International System of Measurements. Among them we would highlight, for example, the megabyte, the gigabyte , the terabyte, the petabyte, the exabyte or the zettabyte.
Using the binary prefix definition, one kilobyte is equivalent to two bytes raised to the tenth power . On the other hand, if the definition of the International System of Units is applied, a kilobyte is equivalent to 10 bytes cubed .
The kilobyte in the binary system
With the binary system, one kilobyte is exactly 1,024 bytes . In principle, it was used as an approximate measurement of 1,000 bytes but, with the increase in computer power, misuse of the term stipulated by the International System of Units began to develop. Currently, kilobyte is used as a synonym for 1,000 bytes and not as equivalent to 1,024 bytes.
Specialists have proposed the term kibi , which would mean 1,024, to name the kibibyte. In this way, the kibibyte would refer exactly to 1,024 bytes and the kilobyte would be synonymous with 1,000 bytes. Other units would be the mebibyte (similar to the megabyte) and the gibibyte (similar to the gigabyte).
As a binary prefix, a kilobyte is equivalent to two bytes raised to the tenth power.
Legislation changes
It is interesting to establish that it was in 1998 when the modification of the legislation existing up to that moment was carried out in order, in this way, to be able to operate with the measures that really adapted to reality. However, despite the changes, these new measures have been used little and specifically correctly.
It is common for users to make mistakes and, despite the new legislation, continue to mistakenly use the previous legislation from 1998. But the serious thing about this is that this often tends to be extrapolated to the IT sector professionals themselves.
Some considerations about the kilobyte
Those who do not hesitate to use the measures correctly and are committed to implementing the current regulations are the manufacturers. Among other things, because it allows them to “artificially” increase the capabilities of the devices and products of various kinds that they put on the market.
This last fact leads us to sometimes realize that a hard drive we have purchased really does not have the capacity it supposedly claims to have. This is simply due to the use of the measures used and the misconception that users have of them.
Other specialists recommended the use of the prefix K (with a capital letter) to distinguish the prefix from the International System of Units (i.e., 10 bytes cubed). This proposal, however, was not successful since, in the case of the megabyte, both m ( mB ) and M ( MB ) are currently used.