Byte [B] to Kilobyte [KB] Converter

Definition: A byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. It is the fundamental unit of data storage and processing in most computer systems.

History/origin: The term 'byte' was coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956 during the early development of the IBM Stretch computer. It was originally intended to represent the number of bits used to encode a single character of text.

Current use: Bytes are used ubiquitously in computing to represent the size of files, storage capacity, and data transferred over networks. Larger units such as kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes are multiples of the byte.

Definition: A kilobyte (KB) is a unit of data storage equal to 1,000 bytes. It's a multiple of the byte, which is the fundamental unit of information in computing.

History/origin: The kilobyte is based on the byte, which is derived from the bit, and is a unit that makes use of SI (International System of Units) prefixes. The term byte was coined in 1956 by Werner Buchholz. In 1998, the International Electrotechnical Commission defined new prefixes for the byte to be used in addition to their SI (International System of Units) counterparts, with the intent that the SI prefixes would be used when referencing 1000 bytes. The new prefixes would be used when referencing multiples of 1024 bytes (210), which is the binary definition of bytes used in information technology.

Current use: Kilobytes are commonly used for smaller files like text documents. Bytes are widely used when referencing data storage, particularly storage media such as hard drives, flash-based storage, and DVDs, though these are more often presented in terms of larger multiples of bytes such as megabytes or gigabytes.