{"id":202,"date":"2005-05-08T09:46:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-08T04:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/08\/bigger-bytes-looking-beyond-the-gigabyte\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T21:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:38:10","slug":"what-comes-after-terabyte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/","title":{"rendered":"What Comes After Terabyte? Data Storage Units from KB to Quettabyte"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Back in 2005, when a 60 GB hard disk felt huge, we asked what comes after the gigabyte. Today a 2 TB drive is ordinary, phones hold a terabyte and cloud plans go far beyond that, so the question has moved up a step: <strong>what comes after terabyte<\/strong>? Here is the full list of data storage units, from kilobyte to quettabyte, with the real sizes and why your 1 TB drive shows less than 1,000 GB.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-66868\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-comes-after-terabyte-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"Hard disk drive: what comes after terabyte in data storage units\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-comes-after-terabyte-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-comes-after-terabyte-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-comes-after-terabyte-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-comes-after-terabyte-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-comes-after-terabyte.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> After the terabyte (TB) comes the petabyte (PB), which is 1,000 terabytes. Then come the exabyte (EB), zettabyte (ZB), yottabyte (YB), ronnabyte (RB) and quettabyte (QB), each 1,000 times bigger than the one before. Ronna and quetta were added to the official SI prefixes in 2022.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_88 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ad10bb673cf3\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ad10bb673cf3\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#What_comes_after_terabyte_data_storage_units_in_order\" >What comes after terabyte: data storage units in order<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#How_big_is_a_petabyte_exabyte_or_zettabyte\" >How big is a petabyte, exabyte or zettabyte?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#What_about_brontobyte_and_geopbyte\" >What about brontobyte and geopbyte?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#1000_or_1024_Decimal_vs_binary_units\" >1,000 or 1,024? Decimal vs binary units<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#Why_a_1_TB_drive_shows_only_931_GB\" >Why a 1 TB drive shows only 931 GB<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#Bits_vs_bytes\" >Bits vs bytes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#Quick_conversions\" >Quick conversions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#What_comes_after_terabyte\" >What comes after terabyte?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#What_is_the_largest_unit_of_data_storage\" >What is the largest unit of data storage?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#Is_a_brontobyte_real\" >Is a brontobyte real?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#How_many_gigabytes_are_in_a_terabyte\" >How many gigabytes are in a terabyte?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/what-comes-after-terabyte\/#Is_a_TB_bigger_than_a_GB\" >Is a TB bigger than a GB?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_comes_after_terabyte_data_storage_units_in_order\"><\/span>What comes after terabyte: data storage units in order<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Unit<\/th>\n<th>Symbol<\/th>\n<th>Bytes (decimal)<\/th>\n<th>Equals<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Byte<\/td>\n<td>B<\/td>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>8 bits<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kilobyte<\/td>\n<td>KB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>3<\/sup> (1,000)<\/td>\n<td>1,000 bytes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Megabyte<\/td>\n<td>MB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>6<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gigabyte<\/td>\n<td>GB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>9<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 MB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Terabyte<\/td>\n<td>TB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>12<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 GB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Petabyte<\/td>\n<td>PB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>15<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Exabyte<\/td>\n<td>EB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>18<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 PB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Zettabyte<\/td>\n<td>ZB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>21<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 EB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Yottabyte<\/td>\n<td>YB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>24<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 ZB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ronnabyte<\/td>\n<td>RB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>27<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 YB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Quettabyte<\/td>\n<td>QB<\/td>\n<td>10<sup>30<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>1,000 RB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The prefixes come from the International System of Units (SI). The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bipm.org\/en\/measurement-units\/si-prefixes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official SI prefix list<\/a> runs from kilo up to quetta. Ronna (10<sup>27<\/sup>) and quetta (10<sup>30<\/sup>) were adopted in 2022, the first new prefixes since zetta and yotta in 1991.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_big_is_a_petabyte_exabyte_or_zettabyte\"><\/span>How big is a petabyte, exabyte or zettabyte?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Petabyte (PB):<\/strong> 1,000 TB, or a million gigabytes. Big companies, research labs and video platforms measure their storage in petabytes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exabyte (EB):<\/strong> 1,000 PB. Large cloud providers and global internet traffic are measured in exabytes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zettabyte (ZB):<\/strong> 1,000 EB, a billion terabytes. Estimates of all the data created in the world each year are given in zettabytes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Yottabyte (YB) and beyond:<\/strong> no single system holds this much data today; these units exist mainly so scientists and engineers have names ready for the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_about_brontobyte_and_geopbyte\"><\/span>What about brontobyte and geopbyte?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In our 2005 post we listed a &#8220;brontobyte&#8221; after the yottabyte, as many websites did then. Brontobyte (and the even bigger &#8220;geopbyte&#8221;) were never official. When new prefixes were finally needed, the standards bodies chose ronna and quetta instead, so the official name for 10<sup>27<\/sup> bytes is the ronnabyte.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1000_or_1024_Decimal_vs_binary_units\"><\/span>1,000 or 1,024? Decimal vs binary units<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Computers count in binary, so for years a kilobyte was often taken to mean 1,024 bytes (2<sup>10<\/sup>), a megabyte 1,024 KB and so on. To end the confusion, the IEC introduced separate binary prefixes in 1998, as explained by <a href=\"https:\/\/physics.nist.gov\/cuu\/Units\/binary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NIST<\/a>:<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Binary unit<\/th>\n<th>Symbol<\/th>\n<th>Bytes<\/th>\n<th>Compared with decimal<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Kibibyte<\/td>\n<td>KiB<\/td>\n<td>1,024<\/td>\n<td>2.4% more than a KB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mebibyte<\/td>\n<td>MiB<\/td>\n<td>1,048,576<\/td>\n<td>4.9% more than a MB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gibibyte<\/td>\n<td>GiB<\/td>\n<td>1,073,741,824<\/td>\n<td>7.4% more than a GB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tebibyte<\/td>\n<td>TiB<\/td>\n<td>1,099,511,627,776<\/td>\n<td>10% more than a TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pebibyte<\/td>\n<td>PiB<\/td>\n<td>2<sup>50<\/sup><\/td>\n<td>12.6% more than a PB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_a_1_TB_drive_shows_only_931_GB\"><\/span>Why a 1 TB drive shows only 931 GB<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Drive makers use decimal units, so a 1 TB drive holds 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Windows divides by 1,024 three times but still labels the result &#8220;GB&#8221;, so it shows about 931 GB. Nothing is missing; it is the same number of bytes measured two ways. macOS has used decimal units since 2009, so a Mac shows the same drive as about 1 TB. A small part of the space is also used by the file system when you format the drive; see our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/01\/how-to-format-usb-pen-drives\/\">formatting a USB flash drive<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bits_vs_bytes\"><\/span>Bits vs bytes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A byte is 8 bits. Storage is measured in bytes (capital B), while internet speeds are usually given in bits per second (small b), such as 100 Mbps. That is why a 100 Mbps connection downloads at most about 12.5 megabytes per second.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Quick_conversions\"><\/span>Quick conversions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>1 TB = 1,000 GB = 1,000,000 MB (decimal)<\/li>\n<li>1 PB = 1,000 TB = 1,000,000 GB<\/li>\n<li>1 TiB = 1,024 GiB<\/li>\n<li>1 TB is about 0.909 TiB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To work with binary and hexadecimal values yourself, try our free <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/tools\/number-base-converter\/\">number base converter<\/a>. To see what is filling your drive, here is how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/07\/folder-size-for-windows-view-size-of-folders\/\">see folder sizes in Windows 11<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_comes_after_terabyte\"><\/span>What comes after terabyte?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The petabyte. 1 PB equals 1,000 TB.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_largest_unit_of_data_storage\"><\/span>What is the largest unit of data storage?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The quettabyte (QB), 10<sup>30<\/sup> bytes, is the largest official unit since the SI added quetta in 2022.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_a_brontobyte_real\"><\/span>Is a brontobyte real?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. It was an informal name that never became official; the official unit for 10<sup>27<\/sup> bytes is the ronnabyte.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_many_gigabytes_are_in_a_terabyte\"><\/span>How many gigabytes are in a terabyte?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>1,000 GB, as drive makers count. In binary units, 1 tebibyte (TiB) equals 1,024 gibibytes (GiB), and a 1 TB drive shows as about 931 GB in Windows.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_a_TB_bigger_than_a_GB\"><\/span>Is a TB bigger than a GB?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Yes. A terabyte is 1,000 times bigger than a gigabyte.<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo by Denny M\u00fcller on Unsplash<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in 2005, when a 60 GB hard disk felt huge, we asked what comes after the gigabyte. Today a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":66868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computers","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66908,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions\/66908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}