Megabits to Bits Converter

Megabits to Bits

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

The Formula

`` bits = megabits × 1000000 megabits = bits × 0.000001 `

One megabit is 1,000,000 bits, and one bit is 1.0000e-6 megabits.

Conversion Table

Megabits	Bits
1 Mb	1,000,000 b
2 Mb	2,000,000 b
5 Mb	5,000,000 b
10 Mb	10,000,000 b
25 Mb	25,000,000 b
50 Mb	50,000,000 b
100 Mb	100,000,000 b
500 Mb	500,000,000 b
1,000 Mb	1,000,000,000 b

The Other Direction

Bits	Megabits
1 b	1.0000e-6 Mb
2 b	2.0000e-6 Mb
5 b	5.0000e-6 Mb
10 b	1.0000e-5 Mb
25 b	2.5000e-5 Mb
50 b	5.0000e-5 Mb
100 b	1.0000e-4 Mb
500 b	5.0000e-4 Mb
1,000 b	0.001 Mb

What Each Unit Is

Megabits (Mb) — 1,000,000 bits. The unit internet plans are sold in — deliberately, because it makes the number eight times larger.

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

A Sense of Scale

• HD streaming needs 5 Mbit/s
• 100 Mbit/s downloads at about 12.5 MB/s
• Network speeds are quoted in bits per second
• A byte is 8 bits

Precision

The factor 1000000 is rounded. For engineering work carry more digits than the table above, and round only at the end — rounding at each step compounds.

Watch Out For

• Mb is megabits, MB is megabytes. A 100 Mbps connection delivers roughly 12.5 MB/s, not 100.

In Code

`javascript const megabitToBit = (value) => value * 1000000; ``

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 Mb with the factor truncated at each decimal place:

Decimals kept	Factor	137 Mb becomes	Error
0	1000000	137,000,000	—
1	1000000	137,000,000	—
2	1000000	137,000,000	—
3	1000000	137,000,000	—
4	1000000	137,000,000	—

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 megabits to three significant figures, the answer in bits is only good to three — writing more digits claims precision the measurement never had.