Gigabytes

A gigabyte, also known by its abbreviation GB, is a standardized unit of information storage and is often used in computing. This unit is equivalent to 10⁹ (1 000 000 000 -billion-) bytes , the smallest unit of information. The term giga comes from the Greek γίγας which means "giant". In colloquial language, "gigabyte" is often abbreviated as giga: "This computer has 2 gigs of RAM".

It is often confused with 2³⁰ bytes, equal to one gibibyte according to the IEC 60027-2 and IEC 80000-13:2008 standards published by the International Electrotechnical Commission. As a result of this confusion, the term "gigabyte" is ambiguous unless a single digit of precision is used. As the storage and transmission capacity of computer systems increases, the difference between binary and decimal usage multiplies. The use of the binary base, however, has advantages during hardware and software design. RAM is almost always measured in powers of two; on the other hand, the vast majority of storage devices are measured in base ten.