Data Powers of Ten
the following list helps put bytes
into perspective; each level increases by an order of magnitude.
This list was originally written by
Dr. Roy Clickery
but no longer appears on his web site. I have made some modifications,
and re-done the images. the list is a collection of estimates of the quantities of data
contained by the various media. the numbers quoted are approximate.
In fact a kilobyte is 1024 bytes not 1000 bytes. ~Demetri
Orlando
- Bytes(8 bits)
- 0.1 bytes:
a binary decision (e.g. yes/no, 0/1)
- 1 byte: a
single character
- 10 bytes:
a single
word
- 100 bytes:
a telegram
or a punch card
- Kilobyte (1000 bytes)
- 1 Kilobyte:
half a page of typing
- 2 Kilobytes:
ENIAC's RAM equivalent
- 10 Kilobytes:
an
encyclopedia page
- 50 Kilobytes: a compressed document image
(pdf) page
- 100 Kilobytes:
a
low-resolution photograph
- 200 Kilobytes: a box of punch cards
- 500 Kilobytes: a
5 1/4 floppy disk
- Megabyte (1 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Megabyte:
a small
novel or
a 3.5 inch
floppy disk
- 2 Megabytes: a
high resolution photograph or an
average mp3 music file
- 5 Megabytes:
the
complete works of Shakespeare or a six minute iTunes music file
- 10 Megabytes: a minute of high-fidelity sound
or a minute of TV-quality video or a digital chest
X-ray
- 20 Megabytes:
a box of
floppy disks
- 50 Megabytes: a digital mammogram
or one volume of an encyclopedia set
- 100 Megabytes: 1 meter of
shelved books
- 200 Megabytes:
a reel of
9-track tape or an IBM 3480 cartridge tape
- 500 Megabytes:
a CD-ROM
- Gigabyte (1 000 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Gigabyte: a pickup truck filled with paper or
a symphony in
high-fidelity sound or a movie at TV quality
- 2 Gigabytes:
20 meters of
shelved books or a stack of
9-track tapes
- 5 Gigabytes:
a DVD
- 10 Gigabytes: forty-five minutes
of digital video storage capacity
- 20 Gigabytes: a good collection of
the works of Beethoven or
the hard
disk of a PC
- 50 Gigabytes:
a floor of
books or the hard drive capacity needed to produce a 2 hour DVD
movie
- 100 Gigabytes:
a floor of
academic journals
- 200 Gigabytes:
- Terabyte (1 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Terabyte: all the X-ray films in
a large technological
hospital or 50000 trees made into paper and printed
- 2 Terabytes:
an academic
research library
- 10 Terabytes: the printed collection of
the US Library of Congress
- 50 Terabytes: the contents of a large
Mass Storage System
- 200 Terabytes: amount of
information publicly available on the World Wide Web
- Petabyte (1 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Petabyte: 3 years of EOS data (2001)
- 2 Petabytes: all US academic research libraries
- 20 Petabytes: Production of hard-disk drives in 1995
- 100 Petabytes: Amount of
information buried in the "deep web"
- 200 Petabytes: all printed material or
Production of digital magnetic tape in 1995
- Exabyte (1 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- 5 Exabytes: all words ever spoken by human beings.
- Zettabyte
(1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- Yottabyte
(1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
-
- ...
- Googlebyte
(10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
000000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
000 bytes)
