Metric Prefixes

Name Print Value Factor
yotta(Y)
Y
1024
1 septillion
zetta(Z)
Z
1021
1 sextillion
exa(E)
E
1018
1 quintillion
peta(P)
P
1015
1 quadrillion
tera(T)
T
1012
1 trillion
giga(G)
G
109
1 billion
mega(M)
M
106
1 million
kilo(k)
k
103
1 thousand
hecto(h)
h
102
1 hundred
deka(da)
da
101
1 ten
Name Print Value Factor
deci(d)
d
10-1
1 tenth
centi(c)
c
10-2
1 hundredth
milli(m)
m
10-3
1 thousandth
micro( µ )
µ
10-6
1 millionth
nano(n)
n
10-9
1 billionth
pico(p)
p
10-12
1 trillionth
femto(f)
f
10-15
1 quadrillionth
atto(a)
a
10-18
1 quintillionth
zepto(z)
z
10-21
1 sextillionth
yocto(y)
y
10-24
1 septillionth

Binary Prefixes

Name Print Value
kibi(Ki)
Ki
210 = 1 024
mebi(Mi)
Mi
220 = 1 048 576
gibi(Gi)
Gi
230 = 1 073 741 824
tebi(Ti)
Ti
240 = 1 099 511 627 776
pebi(Pi)
Pi
250 = 1 125 899 906 842 624
exbi(Ei)
Ei
260 = 1 152 921 504 606 846 976

Units of Measurement

bit = smallest unit of digital information, i.e. ones & zeros
byte = a set of 8 bits
bps = bits per second
Kbps = kilobits per second =1000 bits per second
Mbps = Million bits per second =1,000,000 bits per second
Gbps = Gigabits per second = 1,000,000,000 (one billion) bits per second
Tbps = Terabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) bits per second
Pbps = Petabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 50th power) bits per second
Ebps = Exabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 60th power) bits per second
Zbps = Zettabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 70th power) bits per second
Ybps = Yottabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 80th power) bits per second


Note: The individual components in the bandwidth measurement chart have not been separated by Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) protocol layer or media. Certainly the actual throughput will vary with traffic, sometimes distance, quality of connections and noise factors.

Unit Conversion Table


This conversion table package allows conversion from one set of units to another. It is for manual use and does no calculations. Most of the conversion factors are taken from the public domain information of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Standard Prefixes
Prefix used in code Prefix for written unit Multiplier
da- deka- 10
h- hecto- 100
k- kilo- 1000
M- mega- 1e6
G- giga- 1e9
T- tera- 1e12
P- peta- 1e15
E- exa- 1e18
Z- zeta- 1e21
Y- yotta- 1e24
d- deci- 1e-1
c- centi- 1e-2
m- milli- 1e-3
mu- micro- 1e-4
n- nano- 1e-6
p- pico- 1e-12
f- femto- 1e-15
a- atto- 1e-18
z- zepto- 1e-21
y- yocto- 1e-24


Maximum Dedicated Bandwidths

How fast is fast when your data is moving? This chart puts into perspective line speeds used in Internet backbones, LANs,MANs, and WANs. There are factors that may prevent optimum speeds from happening, however these are realistic and attainable speeds.

13.271 Gbps OC-255
10 Gbps OC-192
4.976 Gbps OC-96
2.488 Gbps OC-48,STS-48
2.325 Gbps SCI-Net
1.866 Gbps OC-36
1.244 Gbps OC-24
1 Gbps UltraFast Ethernet
933.12 Mbps OC-18
622.08 Mbps OC-12,STS-12, STM-4
565.148 Mbps E5
466.56 Mbps OC-9
274 Mbps E4,T4
155.52 Mbps OC-3,STS-3
100 Mbps CDDI, FDDI,Fast Ethernet,Category 5 Cable
53 Mbps HSSI cable
51.84 Mbps OC-1, STS-1
44.736 Mbps T3, DS3 North America
34.368 Mbps E3, DS3 Europe
20 Mbps Category 4 cable
16 Mbps Fast Token Ring LANs
10Mbps Thin Ethernet, Category 3 Cable, cable modem
8.448 Mbps E2 Europe
6.312 Mbps T2, DS2 North America
6.144 Mbps Highest speed ADSL downstream (2 pair)
4 Mbps Token Ring networks
3.152 Mbps T1c, DS1c
2.048 Mbps E1, DS1 Europe
up to 2 Mbps UMTS wireless
1.544 Mbps ADSL, T1, DS1 North America
896 Kbps High speed ADSL downstream
512 Kbps Fast ADSL downstream
384 Kbps Standard ADSL downstream
384 Kbps Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) wireless
256 Kbps Fast ADSL upstream
256 Kbps Average ADSL downstream
230.4 Kbps AppleTalk networks
128 Kbps Standard ADSL upstream
128 Kbps ISDN
56 Kbps to 114 Kbps GPRS wireless
64 Kbps ISDN (std)
64 Kbps DS0, pulse code modulation
up to 56 KbpsHSCSD wireless
56 KbpsK56FLEX, U.S. Robotics X2 modems, V.90
33.6 KbpsK56FLEX, X2 modem communications rate
28.8 Kbps V.34, Rockwell V.Fast Class modems
20 Kbps Level 1 cable, minimum cable data speed
19.2 KbpsV.32ter modem,
14.4 KbpsV.32bis modem, V.17 Fax
9,600 to 14,400 KbpsGSM wireless telephone
9600 bps modem speed of the early 1990s
4800 bps modem speed of the late 1980s
2400 bps modem speed of the mid 1980s
1200 bps modem speed of the early 1980s
300 bps modem speed of the 1970s and earlier
60 bps early teletype devices
0 bps smoke signals

Common File Extensions


ACE - ACE Archiver compression file.
AIF - Audio Interchange File used with SGI and Macintosh applications.
ANI - Animated cursors used in Microsoft Windows.
API - Application Program Interface.
ART - Clipart.
ASC - ASCII text file.
ASM - Assembler code.
ASP - Microsoft Active Server Page.
AVI - Audio/Video Interleaved used for Windows based movies.
BAK - Backup Files.
BAS - BASIC programming language sourcecode.
BAT - MS-DOS batch file.
BFC - Briefcase document used in Windows.
BIN - Binary File.
BIN - MacBinary-encoded files.
BMP - Bitmap format.
BUD - Backup Disk for Quicken by Intuit.
BZ2 - Bzip2-compressed files.
C - C source file.
CAT - Security Catalog file.
CBL - Cobol code.
CBT - Computer Based Training.
CDA - Compact Disc Audio Track.
CDT - Corel Draw Template file.
CFML - ColdFusion Markup Language.
CGI - Common Gateway Interface. Web based programs and scripts.
CHM - Compiled HTML Help files used by Windows.
CLASS - Javascript Class file.
CLP - Windows Clipboard file.
CMD - Dos Command File.
COM - Command File.
CPL - Control panel item - The settings in Control Panels represent
CPL files in the Windows\System folder.
CPP - C++ programming language source code.
CSS - Cascading Style Sheet. Creates a common style reference for a set of web pages.
CSV - Comma Separated Values format.
CMF - Corel Metafile.
CUR - Cursor in Microsoft Windows.
DAO - Registry Backup file for Windows registry.
DAT - Data file.
DD - Compressed Archive by Macintosh DiskDoubler.
DEB - Debian packages.
DEV - Device Driver.
DIC - Dictionary file.
DIR - Macromedia Director file.
DLL - Dynamic Linked Library. Microsoft application file.
DOC - Document format for Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.
DOT - Microsoft Word Template.
DRV - Device Driver.
DS - TWAIN Data source file.
DUN - Dial-up networking configuration file.
DWG - Autocad drawing.
DXF - Autocad drawing exchange format file.
EMF - Enhanced Windows Metafile.
EML - Microsoft Outlook e-mail file.
EPS - Encapsulated PostScript supported by most graphics programs.
EPS2 - Adobe PostScript Level II Encapsulated Postscript.
EXE - DOS based executable file which is also known as a program.
FFL - Microsoft Fast Find file.
FFO - Microsoft Fast Find file.
FLA - Macromedia Flash movie format.
FNT - Font file.
GIF - Graphics Interchange Format that supports animation. Created by CompuServe and used primarily for web use.
GID - Windows global index. Contains the index information used by "Help" in Windows.
GRP - Microsoft Program Manager Group.
GZ - Unix compressed file.
HEX - Macintosh binary hex(binhex) file.
HLP - Standard help file.
HT - HyperTerminal files.
HQX - Macintosh binary hex(binhex) file.
HTM - Hyper Text Markup. This markup language is used for web design.
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language. This markup language is used for web design.
ICL - Icon Library File.
ICM - Image Color Matching profile.
ICO - Microsoft icon image.
INF - Information file used in Windows.
INI - Initialization file used in Windows.
JAR - Java Archive. A compressed java file format.
JPEG - Compression scheme supported by most graphics programs and used predominantly for web use.
JPG - More common extension for JPEG described above.
JS - JavaScript File - A text file containing JavaScript programming code.
LAB - Microsoft Excel mailing labels.
LGO - Windows 9x startup logo.
LIT - eBooks in Microsoft Reader format.
LNK - Windows 9x shortcut file.
LOG - Application log file.
LSP - Autocad(visual) lisp program.
MAQ - Microsoft Access Query.
MAR - Microsoft Access Report.
MDB - Microsoft Access DataBase File.
MDL - Rose model file. Opens with Visual Modeler or Rational Rose.
MID - MIDI music file.
MOD - Microsoft Windows 9.x kernel module.
MOV - Quicktime movie.
MP3 - MPEG Audio Layer 3.
MPEG - Animation file format.
MPP - Microsoft Project File.
MSG - Microsoft Outlook message file.
MSG - Fidonet messages.
NCF - Netware command File.
NLM - Netware loadable Module.
O - Object file, used by linkers.
OCX - ActiveX Control: A component of the Windows environment.
OGG - Ogg Vorbis digitally encoded music file.
OST - Microsoft Exchange/Outlook offline file.
PAK - WAD file that contains information about levels, settings, maps, etc for Quake and Doom.
PCL - Printer Control Language file. PCL is a Page Description Language developed by HP.
PCT - Macintosh drawing format.
PDF - Portable Document File by Adobe. Viewable in a web browser or
with Adobe Acrobat.
PDF - Printer Description File. Provides printer support for certain
applications.
PDR - Port driver for windows 95. It is actually a virtual device driver (vxd).
PHP - Web page that contains a PHP script.
PHTML - Web page that contains a PHP script.
PIF - Program Information File
PIF - Vector graphics GDF file(IBM Mainframe)
PIF - Macintosh Compressed archive
PL - Perl source code file.
PM - Perl Module.
PM3 - PageMaker 3.0 document.
PM4 - PageMaker 4.0 document.
PM5 - PageMaker 5.0 document.
PM6 - PageMaker 6.0 document.
PNG - Portable Network Graphic file.
POL - System Policy file for Windows NT.
POT - Microsoft PowerPoint design template.
PPD - PostScript Printer description file used in Macintosh and Windows operating systems to provide printer specific features to a driver.
PPS - Microsoft PowerPoint slide show.
PPT - Microsoft PowerPoint presentation(default extension).
PRN - A print file created as the result of "printing to file".
PS - PostScript file.
PSD - Native Adobe Photoshop format.
PSP - Paint Shop Pro image.
PST - Personal Folder File for Microsoft Outlook.
PUB - Microsoft Publisher document.
PWL - Windows Password list file.
QIF - Quicken Import file.
RAM - RealAudio Metafile.
RAR - RAR compressed archive created by Eugene Roshall.
RAW - Raw File Format.
RDO - Raster Document Object. Proprietary file type used on Xerox
Digipath Scan and Makeready workstations.
REG - Registry file that contains registry settings.
RM - RealAudio video file.
RPM - RedHat Package Manager.
RSC - Standard resource file.
RTF - Rich Text Format.
SCR - Screen Saver file.
SEA - Self-extracting archive for Macintosh Stuffit files.
SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language.
SH - Unix shell script.
SHTML - HTML file that supports Server Side Includes(SSI).
SIT - Compressed Macintosh Stuffit files.
SMD - SEGA mega drive ROM file.
SVG - Adobe scalable vector graphics file.
SWF - Shockwave Flash file by Macromedia.
SWP - DOS swap file.
SYS - Windows system file used for hardware configuration or drivers.
TAR - Unix Tape Archive.
TGA - Targa bitmap.
TIFF - Tagged Image File Format. Universal graphics format supported
by most graphics applications.
TMP - Windows temporary file.
TTF - True Type font.
TXT - Text Format.
UDF - Uniqueness Definition File. Used for Windows unattended installations.
UUE - UU-encoded file.
VBX - Microsoft Visual basic extension.
VM - Virtual Memory file.
VXD - Windows 9x virtual device driver.
WAV - Waveform sound file.
WMF - Windows Metafile (graphics format).
WRI - Write Document: This is equivalent to RTF, Rich Text Format,
that enables saving text with formatting information.
WSZ - Winamp Skin.
XCF - The GIMP's native image format.
XIF - Wang imaging file. Wang Image Viewer comes with Windows 95/2000.
XIF - Xerox Image file (same as TIFF).
XIF - Image file eXtended by ScanSoft is similar to TIFF and is a Pagis application format.
XLS - Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet.
XLT - Microsoft Excel Template.
XML - Extensible markup language.
XSL - XML style sheet.
ZIP - Compressed Zip archive.