Technical terms Mbps and MB could lead to confusion in the minds of a layman. Mbps is the megabits per second and MB megabytes.
Both these terminology plays a crucial role in the field of computers. The Mbps measures the speed to download through the net, and MB determines the storage space of an electronic device.
Key Takeaways
- Mbps (Megabits per second) and MB (Megabytes) are two units of data measurement.
- Mbps measures data transfer rates, while MB measures data storage capacity.
- Mbps is used to measure internet connection speed, while MB is used to measure file size.
Mbps vs MB
Mbps is an acronym for megabits per second, which is a unit of measurement to express the speed of data transfer or reception over a network connection. MB stands for megabytes, a unit of data storage. It is used to measure the size of files, including documents, images, audio, and video.
Mbps is the measure to calculate the upload and download speeds. Megabits per second or Mbps is the internet bandwidth.
Bandwidth is the download rate, and it is the maximum speed that gets applied while downloading the data onto your computer or mobile. A higher bandwidth ensures a faster download rate, and the transfer rate gets measured in seconds.
The MB stands for megabytes, and it is a storage unit that comprises one million bytes. An MB or megabyte is a data measuring unit which applies to digital storage or computers.
The MB measures the storage space of a text measure, image, video, or media file. All internet files get measured in terms of MB or megabyte.
Comparison Table
| Parameters Of Comparison | Mbps | MB |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Form | It is Megabits per Second | It is Megabytes per Second. |
| Measure | It is the Upload and download speed. | It is Storage capacity. |
| Unit | It is a microscopic unit. | It is a sizeable unit. |
| Association | It is associated with bandwidth. | It is associated with storage. |
| Example | The Speed of Mbps download. | The CPU Storage |
What is Mbps?
The short form Mbps implies megabits per second, Mbps measures the internet bandwidth. The bandwidth is the speed to download with the help of an internet connection onto your computer or mobile device.
To understand the term while downloading a song or movie from the internet. You visit the specific website and click the button to download the favorite item.
The speed at which the songs or movie gets downloaded depends on the bandwidth. The bandwidth gets measured in the megabits per second (Mbps).
The higher the Mbps, the faster the speed and the ability to download the files. The word download implies copying the files from the website to the desired destination.
It could be an mp3 file or a movie, and higher Mbps saves the pain of witnessing the download icon moving in circles, buffering.
Meaning of Mbps:
While speaking of higher or lower Mbps, we specify the speed provided by the internet provider. Data transfer occurs in light or electric pulses.
The data transfer gets measured in seconds, and the smallest unit of that is a bit. Hence the slowest data transfer will be one bit per second (1bps).
The bits get categorized in thousands(1000 bits are kilobit-Kb). So, 1 Mbps is the transfer of one million bits per second.
When the service provider mentions 7Mbps, it transfers seven million bits per second to the device.
The Mbps gets provided in a range, which provides the maximum speed and not the average rate. The accurate upload or download speed fluctuates between 50% to 80% of the bandwidth provided.
This point must be thought through when taking any kind of data plan.
What is MB?
The term MB means Megabytes, and it is a data measuring unit which gets applied to a computer of any media storage. One MB equals one million bytes.
Modern businesses have storage greater than megabytes, gigabytes, or terabyte capacity and it is much higher. But megabyte is commonly utilized for the measure for data, especially in online applications.
It gets used for digital figures. It is a widely used term referring to data networks and communication networks.
MB appeals to quantifying conditions. It measures the style of text and images.
It measures to speed up to thousands of bytes.
Bits and Bytes:
These are commonly utilized terminology in compute storage. The storage in computers gets referred to as a binary number(ones and twos or off and on).
These bits grouped into eight bits become a byte. Each byte is a representation of one letter or number amount of storage.
A megabyte storage space is around one million bytes.
Megabytes get popularly applied to several measurement factors, which are digitally supported computer and media data. The memory, software, file format, compressed file, and drive capacity are all measured in MB.
The hard drive floppy disk capacity is in MB, 3.5-inch drive with 1.44MB.
In 2000, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) formally approved the SI metric prefix for MB as one million bytes.
Main Differences Between Mbps and MB
- Mbps is the acronym of Megabits per second. The acronym of MB is Megabytes.
- The Mbps measures the uploading or downloading speeds. The MB measures the storage capacity of an electronic device.
- Mbps is a microscopic unit. MB is a sizeable unit.
- All bits are a single 0 or 1. 8 bits equal to a byte.
- Mbps is proclaimed by ISPs. Megabyte is mostly used in end user softwarres.
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1569987/
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/4745986/
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
