Convert MB/s to Mbps megabytes per second ↔ megabits per second Free Online Secure
Type a value in megabytes per second and read it in megabits per second at once. The factor is exact by definition, the arithmetic happens in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
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Common values — Convert MB/s to Mbps (megabytes per second ↔ megabits per second)
| MB/s | Mbps |
|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |
| 2 | 16 |
| 3 | 24 |
| 5 | 40 |
| 10 | 80 |
| 20 | 160 |
| 50 | 400 |
| 100 | 800 |
Where these units come from
Two industries measured the same thing and never agreed on the unit. Telecommunications counts bits — the raw ones and zeros going down the line — and so a connection is sold in megabits per second. Computing counts bytes, because a byte is what holds one character, and so a file size and a download speed are given in megabytes per second. A byte is eight bits, which is why the two numbers differ by a factor of eight and why a line advertised as fast can feel slow. There is a second trap underneath: in telecommunications mega has always meant a million exactly, while in computing it long meant 1,048,576, and the two conventions still coexist on the same machine.
Where you meet them
Megabits per second is what an internet contract, a router and a speed test will show you. Megabytes per second is what a download window, a file copy and a memory card will show you. Video streaming is quoted in megabits, hard disks and USB sticks in megabytes, and anyone comparing an advertised line speed with the figure in a progress bar is converting between the two whether they know it or not.
Questions people ask
Why does my 100 Mbps line download at only 12 MB/s?
Because it is doing exactly what it promised. One hundred megabits per second is one hundred million bits each second, and eight bits make a byte, so the most that can arrive is 12.5 megabytes per second. Your download window counts bytes; your contract counts bits. The missing fraction below 12.5 is overhead — the addressing and error-checking that every packet carries.
Is a megabyte a million bytes or 1,048,576?
Both, depending on who is counting. Disk and network makers use a million, following the metric prefixes. Operating systems have traditionally used 1,048,576, which is 2 to the twentieth. That is why a drive sold as 1 TB shows up as about 931 GB: nothing is missing, the two sides are simply counting in different units. This page uses the metric meaning throughout, as telecoms always has.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Megabytes per second to megabits per second: sizing the network behind your storage
Storage vendors state throughput in megabytes per second: an all-flash array at 20,000 MB/s, a backup appliance taking in 1,500 MB/s, a disk reading 250 MB/s. Network engineers, however, buy links in megabits and gigabits per second. Putting a storage system on a network means asking whether the pipe can carry what the disks can deliver, and that question begins with a multiplication by eight. To convert MB/s to Mbps, multiply by 8: 125 MB/s is 1,000 Mbps, 1,250 MB/s is 10,000 Mbps and 20,000 MB/s is 160,000 Mbps. The calculator above multiplies as you type, and the sections that follow show what the numbers mean for disks, arrays, backup targets, cloud volumes and video workstations.
Below come the rule with examples, short notes on each unit, a side-by-side look and a long series of storage and networking cases, ending with the slips people make most. Everything is computed locally in the page. Rated speeds are best cases, and a design should be checked against measured throughput.
How to convert MB/s to Mbps: multiply by 8
The rule
A byte holds eight bits and a megabyte a million bytes, which makes one megabyte per second eight megabits per second. For a “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation, take the MB/s figure times 8: 20 MB/s gives 160 Mbps, 75 MB/s gives 600 Mbps and 400 MB/s gives 3,200 Mbps. To go back, divide Mbps by 8.
Capital B and small b
Storage specifications use a capital B for bytes and network specifications a small b for bits, so MB/s and Mbps differ by a factor of eight. Tools that show "Mb/s" sometimes mean bytes, which is a typical source of mistaken bandwidth plans.
Worked examples
A hard disk that reads 250 MB/s needs a link of 2,000 Mbps to be fully served. A SATA SSD at 550 MB/s needs 4,400 Mbps. A backup appliance ingesting 1,500 MB/s needs a 12 Gbps link, so in practice two 10 Gbps ports.
A quick sanity test
Expect the Mbps result to be eight times the MB/s figure. A smaller number than you began with means the division was used where the multiplication belonged.
The megabyte per second
The language of storage
Disks, arrays, tapes and file systems measure how many bytes they move in a second. Benchmarks, vendor data sheets and operating systems all use MB/s, GB/s or MiB/s.
Where it appears
Disk benchmarks, storage data sheets, backup software and copy dialogs.
The megabit per second
The language of networks
Links are rated in bits per second because the line carries a stream of bits. Ethernet ports, WAN circuits and carrier contracts are all sold in Mbps, Gbps or Tbps.
Where it appears
Network equipment, carrier circuits and internet plans.
MB/s against Mbps
Counted in megabits, a speed looks eight times bigger than in megabytes: 15 MB/s turns into 120 Mbps and 90 MB/s into 720 Mbps. The data is identical, and only the size of the unit changes.
Nothing is lost on the way. The mistake that shows up most is the small and capital b, which hide the factor of eight.
Where the conversion shows up
Disks and arrays
A 7,200 rpm hard disk reads 150 to 250 MB/s sequentially, 1,200 to 2,000 Mbps, but only about 1 MB/s, 8 Mbps, at random 4 kB reads. A rack of 24 such drives streams 6 GB/s, 48 Gbps. An all-flash array can reach 20 GB/s, 160 Gbps, which needs several 100 Gbps links. A “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation puts disks and links in one unit.
Backup targets
A backup appliance that ingests 1,500 MB/s, 12 Gbps, finishes a 20 TB full backup in 13,333 seconds, 3.7 hours. If the network gives only 1 Gbps, 125 MB/s, the same backup takes 44 hours. Deduplication at the client reduces what has to travel, but the link still sets the pace for the first copy.
Cloud volumes
A cloud block volume rated 250 MB/s is a 2,000 Mbps stream, which requires an instance with a network allowance above that. An instance advertised with "up to 10 Gbps" moves 1,250 MB/s at best, so one fast volume uses a fifth of it. Cloud vendors may throttle bursts, so read the sustained figure.
SATA, SAS and PCIe
The SATA III interface runs at 6 Gbps, but with 8b/10b coding it carries 600 MB/s, 4,800 Mbps of data. SAS-3 at 12 Gbps carries 1,200 MB/s. PCIe 3.0 x4 at 32 Gbps raw carries 3,940 MB/s, 31.5 Gbps, and PCIe 4.0 x4 doubles it. Interface speeds are quoted on the wire, while drives are quoted in data, so the two columns differ by the coding overhead.
Memory bandwidth
DDR4-3200 memory on one channel moves 25.6 GB/s, 204.8 Gbps, and a server with eight channels more than 200 GB/s. These figures dwarf any storage or network link, which is why a CPU waits on disks and not on RAM. In-memory databases exploit that gap.
Camera cards and field recording
A camera writing 100 MB/s, 800 Mbps, needs a card whose sustained write is above that. UHS-II cards quote 250 to 300 MB/s, 2,000 to 2,400 Mbps. A reader on the laptop must be as fast, or the offload of 128 GB takes 21 minutes at 100 MB/s instead of 7 at 300.
A worked example
A small studio buys a NAS whose four drives read 180 MB/s each in a stripe, 720 MB/s, 5,760 Mbps. It connects to the editors through a 10 GbE switch. Each editor works at 90 MB/s, 720 Mbps, so up to eight can work at once. A “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation on the NAS and on the project shows that the plan holds.
The mental shortcut
To convert MB/s to Mbps without a calculator, double the figure three times running. For 45 MB/s you get 90, 180 and finally 360 Mbps. The trick is exact, since eight is two cubed.
Spreadsheet formulas
Put the MB/s in column A, then =A2*8 in column B gives Mbps and =B2/8 reverses it. The time in seconds for a file of F megabytes is =F/A2, and a helper column of =A2*3.6 returns gigabytes per hour.
Rounding in capacity planning
Measured throughput carries two or three significant figures and shifts from test to test, so 112 MB/s is better stated as about 900 Mbps than as 896. Planners add 20 to 30 per cent of margin anyway.
Landmarks to memorise
Remember that 1 MB/s = 8 Mbps, 10 MB/s = 80, 50 MB/s = 400, 100 MB/s = 800, 125 MB/s = 1 Gbps and 1 GB/s = 8 Gbps. With them a mental convert MB/s to Mbps takes a moment.
Reference ladder
6 MB/s: 48 Mbps. 14 MB/s: 112 Mbps. 55 MB/s: 440 Mbps. 95 MB/s: 760 Mbps. 260 MB/s: 2,080 Mbps. 900 MB/s: 7,200 Mbps. With a list of this kind any result can be checked quickly.
Checking by reversing
Test a “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation answer by dividing it by 8: 440 Mbps gives 55 MB/s, so the 55 you started from came through intact. A second sign of a good result is that the Mbps number is eight times the MB/s one.
Link to gigabytes per hour
In one MB/s there are 1,000,000 bytes a second, 8 Mbps and 3.6 GB an hour. For 100 MB/s that makes 800 Mbps and 360 GB an hour. The units differ and the speed does not, so a “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation only relabels it.
Sequential and random access
A drive that streams 3,500 MB/s, 28 Gbps, sequentially may sustain only 50 MB/s, 400 Mbps, on 4 kB random reads at a queue depth of one. Databases and virtual machines live on random access, so a network sized from the sequential figure can be much larger than the real need.
MB and MiB
Several tools report mebibytes per second, which are 1,048,576 bytes. A reading of 100 MiB/s equals 104.9 MB/s and 839 Mbps. The 4.9 per cent gap matters when a benchmark is set against a link, so check which unit your software uses.
Two routes to one answer
Go straight to Mbps by multiplying by 8, or travel via bytes: MB/s × 1,000,000 × 8 ÷ 1,000,000. If the answers drift apart, a digit slipped somewhere.
Smart storage in the home
A home server with two disks of 200 MB/s each, mirrored, reads at up to 400 MB/s, 3,200 Mbps, which is more than a 2.5 Gbps port carries. With a gigabit port, 125 MB/s, a quarter of the throughput is wasted. A “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation on the disk spec shows when a faster switch or port is worth buying.
Flash cache in front of disks
A storage system with a flash cache of 2,000 MB/s, 16 Gbps, in front of disks of 1,000 MB/s, 8 Gbps, serves repeated reads at the higher speed. Writes land in the cache and drain to the disks later. Sizing the network from the disk speed would therefore underestimate peak load by half.
Optical media
A Blu-ray drive at 6x reads 27 MB/s, 216 Mbps, and a DVD at 16x about 22 MB/s, 177 Mbps. The numbers look small next to a modern SSD, but they match the bitrate of the films stored on the discs. A 4K disc carries a stream of up to 128 Mbps, 16 MB/s.
Copying between machines
A copy shown at 85 MB/s in a file manager uses 680 Mbps of the link. On a gigabit connection that is 72 per cent of the capacity. A second copy started at the same time would take the remaining 28 per cent, 33 MB/s, so both would slow down.
Photo libraries and RAW offload
A photographer returning with 400 RAW files of 45 MB each has 18 GB. At 100 MB/s, 800 Mbps, from a card reader, the offload takes 3 minutes. Sent to a client over a 100 Mbps upload line, 12.5 MB/s, the same set needs 24 minutes. The first step is limited by the card and the second by the line.
Live event recording
A multi-camera event recording four 4K feeds at 25 MB/s each writes 100 MB/s, 800 Mbps, to the recorder. A hard disk can only just keep up, whereas an SSD handles it easily. Over a two-hour event the total is 720 GB, so capacity must be planned together with speed.
Reading a benchmark report
A drive benchmark may show 540 MB/s read, 500 MB/s write and 38 MB/s for random 4 kB reads. In Mbps these are 4,320, 4,000 and 304. A “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation on each line shows which workload would fill a gigabit port: the sequential ones would, the random one would use less than a third of it.
RAID throughput
A RAID 5 set of five drives of 200 MB/s each can read at close to 800 to 1,000 MB/s, 6,400 to 8,000 Mbps, and write at about a third of that on small writes. A RAID 10 of eight drives reads at 1,600 MB/s, 12.8 Gbps. A “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation on each figure shows which link the array needs.
Network file copies
On a 10-gigabit network a large file copy reaches about 1,100 MB/s, 8.8 Gbps, with decent hardware. On gigabit it reaches 117 MB/s, 940 Mbps. If your array does 600 MB/s and your link is gigabit, the network wastes 80 per cent of the array's capacity.
Database replication
A database writing 40 MB/s of log, 320 Mbps, to a replica across a 1 Gbps WAN circuit uses a third of it. At 100 MB/s, 800 Mbps, the same circuit is nearly full and latency spikes appear. Replication planners compare log rates in MB/s with circuits in Mbps just like this.
Object storage and content delivery
A storage node with a 25 Gbps port serves 3,125 MB/s at best. A request for a 5 MB image uses 40 Mbit, so one node can serve about 600 such images a second. Content delivery networks work in the same units, which is why the megabit and megabyte meet constantly in web operations.
Video editing storage
ProRes 422 HQ in 4K at 30 frames per second needs about 88 MB/s, 704 Mbps. Uncompressed 4K at 24 fps in 10-bit 4:2:2 is 498 MB/s, 3,981 Mbps. A team of five editors sharing one file server therefore needs 500 MB/s, 4 Gbps, for the compressed material and a 25 or 40 Gbps link for the uncompressed.
Machine learning data pipelines
A training job reading images at 2,000 MB/s, 16 Gbps, saturates a 10 Gbps link and takes nearly two thirds of a 25 Gbps one. Many teams copy the dataset to local NVMe drives that read 3,500 MB/s, 28 Gbps, instead of streaming it across the network. The saving shows up in GPU utilisation.
Tape libraries
A tape drive of the LTO-9 generation writes 400 MB/s native, 3,200 Mbps. Ten drives together reach 4,000 MB/s, 32 Gbps. Filling an 18 TB cartridge takes 12.5 hours. Tape is still used for archives because the speed holds steady and the cost per terabyte is low.
More values for convert MB/s to Mbps
A longer list of conversions
If the value you need is not in the first list, these further conversions may be close enough to read off directly:
- 0.1 MB/s = 0.8 Mbps
- 0.5 MB/s = 4 Mbps
- 3 MB/s = 24 Mbps
- 4 MB/s = 32 Mbps
- 7 MB/s = 56 Mbps
- 15 MB/s = 120 Mbps
- 20 MB/s = 160 Mbps
- 75 MB/s = 600 Mbps
- 200 MB/s = 1,600 Mbps
- 500 MB/s = 4,000 Mbps
- 2,000 MB/s = 16,000 Mbps
- 10,000 MB/s = 80,000 Mbps
Common slips with a “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation
Dividing by 8
From MB/s to Mbps the number gets larger. If 100 MB/s became 12.5, you used the factor for the other direction.
Capital B and small b
MB and Mb are different units. A throughput of 100 MB/s is 800 Mbps, not 100 Mbps. Check the letters on data sheets and in tools.
Peak against sustained
A flash drive may read fast for a few seconds and then slow down when its cache is exhausted. The figure on the box is the peak, and large copies show the sustained rate.
Short answers
How do I convert MB/s to Mbps?
Take the MB/s times 8.
What is 12.5 MB/s in Mbps?
It is 100 Mbps.
What is 125 MB/s in Mbps?
It is 1,000 Mbps.
What is 100 Mbps in MB/s?
It is 12.5 MB/s.
Is my number sent anywhere?
No, everything is computed in the browser.
More pages and a wrap-up
Other conversions are listed in Convert km to mi, Convert mi to km, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C, Convert dm to in, Convert dm to cm, Convert cm² to in², Convert L to ft³, Convert cm³ to ml. Going the other way is covered by Convert Mbps to MB/s.
To sum up, a “convert MB/s to Mbps” calculation needs one multiplication by 8 and a unit beside the answer. The figure is worked out on your own device, without registration or upload.