Data rate converter
Converts data rates: bit/s, kbit/s, Mbit/s, and Gbit/s.
20 Mbit/s is 20,000 kbit/s.
- Input
Provenance
- Computed by
- units.data-rate.convert 1.0.0, core 0.1.0
- Model
- Exact unit definitions
- Accuracy
- Exact to double precision: each conversion is one correctly rounded ratio of exact definitions
- Notes
- None
- Cites
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), NIST Special Publication 811
Something look off?
How we got thisFormula, worked example, sources, and proof
Model: Exact unit definitions
Accuracy: Exact to double precision: each conversion is one correctly rounded ratio of exact definitions
When to use this: Use this for a link or telemetry rate quoted in one prefix and needed in another: a 20 Mbit/s downlink in kbit/s, a gigabit backhaul in megabits, a modem or radio rate in bits per second. Datasheets, contracts and monitoring tools each pick their own prefix, and the figure being compared against is rarely in the same one.
Limitations: These are bits, not bytes, and nothing here divides by eight: a rate in bytes per second is a different quantity and has to be converted before it comes here. The prefixes are decimal, so a megabit per second is 10^6 bit/s and not 2^20 -- the reading networks have always used, and the one IEC 80000-13 gives, with Ki, Mi and Gi reserved for the binary multiples; the two differ by 4.9% at mega and 7.4% at giga. A link rate is also not a throughput: framing, retransmission and protocol overhead all sit between them.
Worked example: 20 Mbit/s in kbit/s. Source: Exact unit definitions (NIST SP 811 Appendix B). It is golden test vector v001, and every build checks the tool still gives its answer within its tolerance.
You enter
- To unit
- kbit/s
- Value
- 20 Mbit/s
You get
- Converted
- 20,000 kbit/s
- Input
- 20 Mbit/s
Review: Not yet independently reviewed by a metrologist.
Last verified: 2026-09-18, when a maintainer last confirmed this tool's sources at the issuer. See the sources ledger.
Status: version 1.0.0, core 0.1.0. See this tool in the verification report.
Checked against: 22 golden test vectors (download the test vectors, each with its source and tolerance). See how results are checked and every source.
Sources
- Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), NIST Special Publication 811, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2008 edition. Appendix B.8, Factors for units listed alphabetically.