The SI prefixes are defined as follows:


Factor | Symbol | Prefix | Prefix | Symbol | Factor | |
10-1 | d | deci | deca | da | 10 | |
10-2 | c | centi | hecto | h | 102 | |
10-3 | m | milli | kilo | k | 103 | |
10-6 | μ | micro | mega | M | 106 | |
10-9 | n | nano | giga | G | 109 | |
10-12 | p | pico | tera | T | 1012 | |
10-15 | f | femto | peta | P | 1015 | |
10-18 | a | atto | exa | E | 1018 | |
10-21 | z | zepto | zetta | Z | 1021 | |
10-24 | y | yocto | yotta | Y | 1024 |


The above SI prefixes can be applied to all SI units, except those associated with computer binary data. For example:
-
Old Definitions:
- 1 kb = (210) bits = 1,024 bits
- 1 MB = (210)2 Bytes = 1,048,576 Bytes
To make the SI prefixes universal and to avoid confusion in the future, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the leading international organization for worldwide standardization in electrotechnology, approved in December 1998 standard names and symbols of prefixes for binary multiples to be used in the fields of data processing and transmission. The prefixes are:


Name | Prefix | Symbol | Factor |
kilobinary | kibi | Ki | 210 |
megabinary | mebi | Mi | (210)2 |
gigabinary | gibi | Gi | (210)3 |
terabinary | tebi | Ti | (210)4 |
petabinary | pebi | Pi | (210)5 |
exabinary | exbi | Ei | (210)6 |


Based on the new definitions, the SI prefixes, k, M, and G, are back to their original meaning of 1,000, 1,000,000, and 1,000,000,000, respectively. The commonly known binary prefixes are written as Ki, Mi, and Gi and pronounced as kibi, mebi, and gibi, respectively.
-
New Definitions: (See the unit conversion calculator for more binary data units.)
- 1 kilo-bit = 1 kb = 103 bits = 1,000 bits
- 1 kilobinarybit = 1 kibibit = 1 Kib = (210) bits = 1,024 bits
- 1 megabyte = 1 MB = 106 Bytes = 1,000,000 Bytes
- 1 megabinarybyte = 1 mebibyte = 1 MiB = (210)2 Bytes = 1,048,576 Bytes
The IEEE Standards Board decided that IEEE standards will be using the conventional, internationally adopted, definitions of the base-ten SI prefixes, except that the base-two definition may be used if such usage is explicitly pointed out on a case-by-case basis.
List Units: A B C D E-F G H-I J-L M N O-P Q-R S T U-Z |