What’s the Difference? #
If you’re looking at your internet plan or downloading a file and wondering why the numbers don’t seem to match up — you’re not alone. The terms megabits (Mb) and megabytes (MB) look and sound similar, but they mean different things.
Here’s the key difference:
| Term | Stands For | Used When Talking About… |
|---|---|---|
| Megabit | Mb | Internet speed |
| Megabyte | MB | File or download size |
Megabits per Second – This measures internet speed, and you’ll see it in:
- Internet speed tests (e.g., Speedtest.net, Fast.com)
→ “Download speed = 497 Mbps and Upload speed = 503Mbps” - Broadband Provider advertisements or plans
→ “Up to 300 Mbps download!”
Megabytes per Second – This measures file download or transfer speed, and you’ll see it in:
- Download progress bars (Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, etc.)
→ “Downloading at 80 MB/s” - Web browser downloads
→ “Downloaded 200 MB in 5 seconds”
Quick Tip #
To get megabytes per second (MBps) from your internet speed in megabits per second (Mbps), just divide by 8.
Example:
Your online speed test shows that your PC is getting 800 megabits per second (Mbps) of internet speed, but your game file is downloading at 100 megabytes per second (MBps). At first, this can look like a mismatch — the numbers are different, and the terms Mbps and MBps look almost the same.
However, you’re actually getting the full expected speed.
Remember 1 megabyte (MB) = 8 megabits (Mb)
So, if you divide 800 Mbps by 8, you get 100 MBps as the theoretical max download rate.