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A megabyte can refer to either 1,048,576 bytes or 1,000,000 bytes, and is roughly the size of a 500-page e-book. Bits are stored as zeros or ones and can be used together to store complex information. A byte is a collection of eight bits and is the standard unit of information in computer architectures. Megabytes are common file sizes for text documents, images, and videos.
Megabytes (MB) are collections of digital information. The term commonly refers to two different numbers of bytes, where each byte contains eight bits. The first definition of megabyte, used primarily in the context of computer memory, means 1 048 576 or 220 bytes. Other definition, used in most computer and network storage applications, means 1 000 000 or 106 bytes. Using both definitions, a megabyte is roughly the file size of a 500-page e-book.
The word bit comes from a binary digit. They are yes or no answers to unambiguous questions and are stored on computers as zeros or ones. Whether a door is locked is an example of a question that can be answered with just one bit. This is basically how all digital information is stored in telecommunications and computing.
Computers can use multiple bits together to store complex information. It takes at least five bits to designate one of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet (2×2×2×2×2 = 32). The way a computer will store a letter goes something like this: bit number one indicates whether the letter is in the first half of the alphabet, bit number two narrows the remaining letters into two halves, and so on. After five bits, any letter can be identified.
Today, a byte most commonly denotes a collection of eight bits, although the number has varied in the past. Eight bits is a convenient number of bits to store a single character; in addition to the letter itself, format data such as uppercase is commonly stored. Information is rarely stored only in bits: the byte is the standard unit of information addressed in computer architectures.
The confusion about megabytes comes from how bytes are multiplied. Computers use binary number systems rather than decimal or base-10 number systems. From this perspective, it makes more sense to group bytes in powers of two; hence the definition of 220 megabytes. Recently, there has been a movement to use prefix definitions consistent with the metric system of measurement. This would favor the 106 definition for a megabyte.
Megabytes are common file sizes in personal computers and business transactions. Text documents are often less than a megabyte in size. Images, especially from high-resolution digital cameras, commonly take up several megabytes of storage space. Movie length video files can be larger than 1,000 megabytes. Compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs) typically hold about 700 megabytes, while digital video discs (DVDs) often have capacities of several thousand megabytes.
