Definition

1. Noun:
   • A unit of digital information storage: A "gibit" is a specific unit of measurement used in computing and data storage. It is equal to 1,024 mebibits (Mibit), or 2^30 bits, which is precisely 1,073,741,824 bits.

Usage Notes

• The term "gibit" is a contraction of "giga binary bit." It is part of the binary prefix system (IEC 60027-2 standard) used to denote multiples of 1024 (2^10) rather than 1000. This distinguishes it from the decimal-based "gigabit" (Gbit), which equals 1,000,000,000 bits.
• It is primarily used in technical contexts related to computer memory (e.g., RAM) and data transmission rates in digital communication systems where binary addressing is fundamental.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The new memory module has a capacity of 4 gibibits.
  • The data transfer rate was measured at 2.5 gibibits per second.
  • One gibibit is approximately 7.4% larger than one gigabit.

Advanced Usage

• "gibibit per second (Gibit/s)": A unit of data transfer rate equal to one gibibit of data transmitted per second.
  • The internal bus supports a bandwidth of 8 Gibit/s.

Variants and Related Words

• Mebibit (Mibit): A unit of information equal to 1,024 kibibits or 2^20 bits. 1 gibibit = 1,024 mebibits.
• Kibibit (Kibit): A unit of information equal to 1,024 bits or 2^10 bits.
• Gigabit (Gbit): A decimal-based unit equal to 10^9 (1,000,000,000) bits. This is a different, though similarly named, unit.

Synonyms

• Gib (informal abbreviation)
• Gigabit (binary): Used in some contexts to specify the binary meaning, though "gibit" is the unambiguous standard term.

Related Phrases

• Gibibit-second (Gibit-s): A unit representing a gibibit of data transferred over one second, used in measuring data volumes in telecommunications.
  • The total traffic was 150 Gibit-s.

Noun

1. a unit of information equal to 1024 mebibits or 2^30 (1,073,741,824) bits