binary values

The following table shows the decimal value of a binary number when all bits in the binary number are 1. Just as the largest number in a group of decimal digits is all 9's, the largest number in a group of binary digits is all 1's.

The first 16 bits also show the actual binary number with all bits set to 1 and its decimal equivalent. Just like the decimal number 9 provides 10 distinct values (0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9), the binary number 1 provides two possible values (0-1). Hence, the largest number in a given set of digits is always 1 less than the total possible values.

Common Binary Values
Prior to the table is a summary of binary values that are commonly used by hardware and software. See NIST binary.

    COMMON BINARY VALUES
    (see following table for all values)

    Bits          Total Values

      4                           16
      8                          256
     15                       32,768   32K
     16                       65,536   64K
     24                   16,777,216   16M
     32                4,294,967,296    4G
     48          281,474,976,710,656  256T
     64   18,446,744,073,709,551,616   16E


  BINARY VALUES FROM 1 TO 64 BITS

            Total     Actual     Decimal
  Bits      Values    Binary     Equivalent

   1          2               1    1
   2          4              11    3
   3          8             111    7
   4         16            1111   15
   5         32          1 1111   31
   6         64         11 1111   63
   7        128        111 1111  127
   8        256       1111 1111  255
   9        512     1 1111 1111  511

      K = KILO (kilobits, kilobytes, etc.)

  10    1K    1,024          11 1111 1111   1,023
  11    2K    2,048         111 1111 1111   2,047
  12    4K    4,096        1111 1111 1111   4,095
  13    8K    8,192      1 1111 1111 1111   8,191
  14   16K   16,384     11 1111 1111 1111  16,383
  15   32K   32,768    111 1111 1111 1111  32,767
  16   64K   65,536   1111 1111 1111 1111  65,535

  17  128K  131,072
  18  256K  262,144
  19  512K  524,288

     M = MEGA (megabits, megabytes, etc.)

  20    1M    1,048,576
  21    2M    2,097,152
  22    4M    4,194,304
  23    8M    8,388,608
  24   16M   16,777,216

  25   32M   33,554,432
  26   64M   67,108,864
  27  128M  134,217,728
  28  256M  268,435,456
  29  512M  536,870,912

     G = GIGA (gigabits, gigabytes, etc.)

  30    1G    1,073,741,824
  31    2G    2,147,483,648
  32    4G    4,294,967,296

  33    8G    8,589,934,592
  34   16G   17,179,869,184

  35   32G   34,359,738,368
  36   64G   68,719,476,736
  37  128G  137,438,953,472
  38  256G  274,877,906,944
  39  512G  549,755,813,888

     T = TERA (terabits, terabytes, etc.)

  40    1T    1,099,511,627,776
  41    2T    2,199,023,255,552
  42    4T    4,398,046,511,104
  43    8T    8,796,093,022,208
  44   16T   17,592,186,044,416

  45   32T   35,184,372,088,832
  46   64T   70,368,744,177,664
  47  128T  140,737,488,355,328
  48  256T  281,474,976,710,656
  49  512T  562,949,953,421,312

     P = PETA (petabits, petabytes, etc.)

  50    1P    1,125,899,906,842,624
  51    2P    2,251,799,813,685,248
  52    4P    4,503,599,627,370,496
  53    8P    9,007,199,254,740,992
  54   16P   18,014,398,509,481,984

  55   32P   36,028,797,018,963,968
  56   64P   72,057,594,037,927,936
  57  128P  144,115,188,075,855,872
  58  256P  288,230,376,151,711,844
  59  512P  576,460,752,303,423,480

     E = EXA (exabits, exabytes, etc.)

  60    1E   1,152,921,504,606,846,976
  61    2E   2,305,843,009,213,693,952
  62    4E   4,611,686,018,427,387,904
  63    8E   9,223,372,036,854,775,808
  64   16E  18,446,744,073,709,551,616