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Multiple-byte units

More than one system exists to define unit multiples based on the byte. Some systems are based on powers of 10, following the International System of Units (SI), which defines for example the prefix kilo as 1000 (10); other systems are based on powers of 2. Nomenclature for these systems has led to confusion. Systems based on powers of 10 use standard SI prefixes (kilo, mega, giga,...) and their corresponding symbols (k, M, G,...). Systems based on powers of 2, however, might use binary prefixes (kibi, mebi, gibi,...) and their corresponding symbols (Ki, Mi, Gi,...) or they might use the prefixes K, M, and G, creating ambiguity when the prefixes M or G are used.

While the difference between the decimal and binary interpretations is relatively small for the kilobyte (about 2% smaller than the kibibyte), the systems deviate increasingly as units grow larger (the relative deviation grows by 2.4% for each three orders of magnitude). For example, a power-of-10-based terabyte is about 9% smaller than power-of-2-based tebibyte.