Kilobits to Bits Converter

Kilobits to Bits

Convert kilobits (Kb) to bits (b). Both measure digital storage, and the conversion comes up in computing, storage, internet work.

The Formula

`` bits = kilobits × 1000 kilobits = bits × 0.001 `

One kilobit is 1,000 bits, and one bit is 0.001 kilobits.

Conversion Table

Kilobits	Bits
1 Kb	1,000 b
2 Kb	2,000 b
5 Kb	5,000 b
10 Kb	10,000 b
25 Kb	25,000 b
50 Kb	50,000 b
100 Kb	100,000 b
500 Kb	500,000 b
1,000 Kb	1,000,000 b

The Other Direction

Bits	Kilobits
1 b	0.001 Kb
2 b	0.002 Kb
5 b	0.005 Kb
10 b	0.01 Kb
25 b	0.025 Kb
50 b	0.05 Kb
100 b	0.1 Kb
500 b	0.5 Kb
1,000 b	1 Kb

What Each Unit Is

Kilobits (Kb) — 1,000 bits in decimal (SI) usage. The telecoms convention, where powers of ten have always been used.

Bits (b) — a single binary digit — the smallest unit of information. Named by John Tukey in 1946, from "binary digit".

A Sense of Scale

• Dial-up peaked at 56 kbit/s
• Audio bitrates are in kbit/s
• Network speeds are quoted in bits per second
• A byte is 8 bits

Precision

The factor 1000 is rounded. For engineering work carry more digits than the table above, and round only at the end — rounding at each step compounds.

In Code

`javascript const kilobitToBit = (value) => value * 1000; ``

Where This Conversion Comes Up

• Computing
• Storage
• Internet
• Media
• Backups

How Many Decimals Do You Need?

Rounding the factor costs accuracy, and how much depends on the factor. Converting 137 Kb with the factor truncated at each decimal place:

Decimals kept	Factor	137 Kb becomes	Error
0	1000	137,000	—
1	1000	137,000	—
2	1000	137,000	—
3	1000	137,000	—
4	1000	137,000	—

A rule that holds for any conversion: round once, at the end. Rounding the factor and then multiplying compounds the error through every subsequent calculation, while carrying full precision and rounding the final answer does not.

The right number of significant figures is set by your input, not by the converter. If you measured kilobits to three significant figures, the answer in bits is only good to three — writing more digits claims precision the measurement never had.

Other Conversions From Kilobits

The same value in every other unit this converter supports for data:

From	To	Unit
1 Kb	125 B	Bytes
1 Kb	0.125 KB	Kilobytes
1 Kb	0.001 Mb	Megabits
1 Kb	1.2500e-4 MB	Megabytes
1 Kb	1.2500e-7 GB	Gigabytes
1 Kb	1.2500e-10 TB	Terabytes

Chaining conversions works — kilobits to metres to feet gives the same answer as kilobits to feet — but each step rounds, so a chain of three conversions carries three roundings. Convert directly where a direct factor exists.