The computer industry has taken over the meanings of traditional number prefixes kilo-, mega-, giga-, etc. (which, in previous contexts such as physics, are used to refer to certain powers of 10) and redefined them in terms of powers of 2, which are more convenient units in the design of computer systems. Here is a table of the new meanings.
| Prefix | Power
of 2 |
Exact decimal value | Decimal
approxi- mation |
English name
(approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kilo | 210 | 1,024 | 103 | thousand |
| mega | 220 | 1,048,576 | 106 | million |
| giga | 230 | 1,073,741,824 | 109 | billion |
| tera | 240 | 1,099,511,627,776 | 1012 | trillion |
| peta | 250 | 1,125,899,906,842,624 | 1015 | quadrillion |
| exa | 260 | 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 | 1018 | quintillion |
| zetta | 270 | 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 | 1021 | sextillion |
| yotta | 280 | 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 | 1024 | septillion |
So, one yottabyte is equal to exactly one septillion, two hundred and eight sextillion, nine hundred and twenty-five quintillion, eight hundred and nineteen quadrillion, six hundred and fourteen trillion, six hundred and twenty-nine billion, one hundred and seventy-million, seven hundred and six thousand, one hundred and seventy-six bytes.