Mbps vs. MBps: Understanding the difference
Understand the difference between megabits per second and megabytes per second and how they affect file downloads and speeds.
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When it comes to understanding the internet, there’s a lot of terms and acronyms to know. Perhaps one of the most difficult is Mbps vs. MBps. What’s the difference? It may seem small, but that capital “B” in the second one makes a
What’s the difference between Mbps vs. MBps?
The main difference between the two terms comes down to bits vs. bytes. The first acronym, Mbps, with a lowercase “b,” refers to megabits per second, while the second, MBps, with a capital “B,” stands for megabytes per second. While both are terms related to measurements, they’re used differently. Megabits per second is commonly used when talking about internet upload and download speeds, or the rate at which information is uploaded or downloaded based on your connection speed. You may also see this referred to as bandwidth. Learn more: What’s the difference between upload vs. download speed?
Megabits vs. Megabytes: What’s the difference?
A quick guide on data measurements
Don’t let these abbreviations trip you up! Here are some other common data measures that denote file size/data amounts, listed from smallest to largest:
- 1 Byte = 8 bits
- 1 Kilobyte (kB) = 1,024 Bytes
- 1 Megabyte (MB) = 1,024 Kilobytes
- 1 Gigabyte (GB or Gig) = 1,024 Megabytes
- 1 Terabyte (TB) = 1,024 Gigabytes
How do Mbps and MBps affect my online activities?
As mentioned above, both Mbps and MBps come into play when you’re downloading things from the internet — everything from loading a webpage to downloading music and movies to streaming TV. The time it takes to download will vary based on the size of the file and how fast of an internet connection you have. Other factors can affect download times as well, such as whether you are downloading using an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi, or whether you are connected to residential or business internet. But what if you already have high Mbps, but are still experiencing slow internet? If you have an appropriate download speed, but are still having trouble with activities such as gaming or video-chatting, then latency, not bandwidth, might be the problem. Learn the difference between bandwidth and latency and find out how to troubleshoot for this issue.
