Gbps to Mbps Converter
Convert gigabits per second to megabits per second (Gbps to Mbps)
1 Gbps = 1,000 Mbps. To convert Gbps to Mbps, multiply by 1,000. Divide Mbps by 8 to get the download rate in megabytes per second (MB/s).
Gigabits per second to Megabits per second converter
Live- 0.125 GB/s
- 125 MB/s
- 125,000 KB/s
- 1,000,000 kbps
- 1,000,000,000 bps
How to convert gigabits per second to megabits per second
A gigabit per second is one billion bits per second and a megabit per second is one million, so 1 Gbps is exactly 1,000 Mbps. Network speeds always use decimal SI prefixes, never the 1,024 step used for some file sizes, which makes this one of the cleanest conversions in computing: multiply by 1,000. A 2.5 Gbps port is 2,500 Mbps, and a 0.3 Gbps plan is 300 Mbps. Bit and byte units for both speed and storage are collected on the data storage converter.
The trap is the unit that comes next. Internet speeds are sold in bits, but browsers and game launchers report download progress in bytes, and a byte is 8 bits. A 1 Gbps plan therefore peaks at 1,000 ÷ 8 = 125 MB/s, not 1,000 MB/s. Once you have the rate in MB/s, file sizes from the MB to GB converter tell you how long a download will take.
Step by step
- Take the speed in gigabits per second (Gbps).
- Multiply it by 1,000 to get megabits per second (Mbps).
- For the download rate in MB/s, divide the Mbps figure by 8.
- Expect real-world throughput a few percent lower because of protocol overhead.
See it on a scale
Worked examples
Three common wired speeds: a gigabit fiber plan, a 2.5 GbE router port and a 10 GbE network card.
1 Gbps × 1,000 = 1,000 Mbps
= 1,000 Mbps
2.5 Gbps × 1,000 = 2,500 Mbps
= 2,500 Mbps
10 Gbps × 1,000 = 10,000 Mbps
= 10,000 Mbps
How many 4K streams can a 1 Gbps connection handle?
A 1 Gbps connection can carry about 66 simultaneous 4K streams at 15 Mbps each, or 200 HD streams at 5 Mbps, before protocol overhead.
Divide the plan speed in Mbps by the bitrate of each stream. The bitrates below are typical streaming targets rather than fixed rules, and a household rarely runs more than a handful of streams at once:
| Activity | Typical bitrate | Streams on 500 Mbps | On 1 Gbps | On 2.5 Gbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HD video (1080p) | 5 Mbps | 100 | 200 | 500 |
| 4K video | 15 Mbps | 33 | 66 | 166 |
| HD video call | 3 Mbps | 166 | 333 | 833 |
| Music at 320 kbps | 0.32 Mbps | 1,562 | 3,125 | 7,812 |
In practice the limits are Wi-Fi coverage and the upload side of the plan. Many cable plans sold as 1 Gbps upload at a small fraction of that, so several people sending video at once can fill the upstream long before the download side is busy. At the 5 Mbps HD rate, one hour of video is 2.25 GB, which the GB to TB converter helps you total across a month of viewing.
How do I convert Mbps back to Gbps?
Divide megabits per second by 1,000 to get gigabits per second: 2,500 Mbps is 2.5 Gbps and 940 Mbps is 0.94 Gbps.
You can also type the Mbps figure into the lower box of the converter above, which works in both directions. In Excel or Google Sheets, =A2/1000 turns a column of Mbps into Gbps and =A2*1000 goes back, =A2/8 gives MB/s, and =B2*8/A2 returns the seconds needed to move B2 megabytes at A2 Mbps.
| Megabits per second | Gigabits per second | Raw MB/s |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | 0.1 Gbps | 12.5 MB/s |
| 300 Mbps | 0.3 Gbps | 37.5 MB/s |
| 940 Mbps | 0.94 Gbps | 117.5 MB/s |
| 2,500 Mbps | 2.5 Gbps | 312.5 MB/s |
| 10,000 Mbps | 10 Gbps | 1,250 MB/s |
Keep an eye on the lowercase b: 1,000 Mbps is 1 Gbps, but 1,000 MB/s is 8 Gbps. For long transfers, the minutes to hours converter turns the result into a time you can plan around.
Gbps to Mbps conversion chart
Plan speeds, Ethernet port speeds and data-center link rates converted from gigabits to megabits per second. All values are decimal, as networking standards define them.
| Gigabits per second (Gbps) | Megabits per second (Mbps) |
|---|---|
| 0.1 Gbps | 100 Mbps |
| 0.2 Gbps | 200 Mbps |
| 0.25 Gbps | 250 Mbps |
| 0.3 Gbps | 300 Mbps |
| 0.4 Gbps | 400 Mbps |
| 0.5 Gbps | 500 Mbps |
| 0.75 Gbps | 750 Mbps |
| 1 Gbps | 1,000 Mbps |
| 1.2 Gbps | 1,200 Mbps |
| 1.5 Gbps | 1,500 Mbps |
| 2 Gbps | 2,000 Mbps |
| 2.5 Gbps | 2,500 Mbps |
| 3 Gbps | 3,000 Mbps |
| 4 Gbps | 4,000 Mbps |
| 5 Gbps | 5,000 Mbps |
| 6 Gbps | 6,000 Mbps |
| 8 Gbps | 8,000 Mbps |
| 10 Gbps | 10,000 Mbps |
| 20 Gbps | 20,000 Mbps |
| 25 Gbps | 25,000 Mbps |
| 40 Gbps | 40,000 Mbps |
| 50 Gbps | 50,000 Mbps |
| 100 Gbps | 100,000 Mbps |
| 200 Gbps | 200,000 Mbps |
| 400 Gbps | 400,000 Mbps |
| 800 Gbps | 800,000 Mbps |
Gbps vs Mbps: what is the difference?
Both are decimal rates of data transfer, and one gigabit per second is a thousand megabits per second. The extra rows show what each unit looks like in bytes and in everyday use.
| Attribute | Gigabits per second | Megabits per second |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Gbps | Mbps |
| One unit equals | 1,000 Mbps | 0.001 Gbps |
| Defined as | 109 bits per second | 106 bits per second |
| In bytes per second | 125 MB/s | 125 KB/s (0.125 MB/s) |
| Time to move a 1 GB file | 8 s | 8,000 s (2 h 13 min 20 s) |
| Typical everyday values | 1, 2.5, 5 and 10 Gbps Ethernet ports; fiber plans; USB and Thunderbolt links | Streaming bitrates, mobile data speeds, most home broadband plans |
| Easily confused with | GB/s (gigabytes per second), 8 times larger | MB/s (megabytes per second), 8 times larger |
4 key differences
- A gigabit per second carries 1,000 times as many bits each second as a megabit per second.
- Ethernet port speeds are named in gigabit steps (1, 2.5, 5 and 10 Gbps) under IEEE 802.3, while streaming and mobile speeds are normally quoted in Mbps.
- Unlike file sizes, link rates have never used binary prefixes: a gigabit link is exactly 109 bits per second, not 230.
- A plan rated 1 Gbps delivers at most 125 MB/s of raw data, and one rated 100 Mbps at most 12.5 MB/s.
Gigabit plans in MB/s and download times
Raw MB/s is Mbps ÷ 8. The best-case column applies the overhead of TCP/IP over standard 1,500-byte Ethernet frames, where 1,460 of every 1,538 bytes on the wire carry file data (about 94.9%). Download times use the raw rate and decimal file sizes; Wi-Fi, busy servers and congestion make them longer.
| Plan | Mbps | Raw MB/s | Best-case MB/s | 1 GB file | 50 GB game | 150 GB game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 Gbps | 500 Mbps | 62.5 MB/s | 59.3 MB/s | 16 s | 13 min 20 s | 40 min |
| 1 Gbps | 1,000 Mbps | 125 MB/s | 118.7 MB/s | 8 s | 6 min 40 s | 20 min |
| 2 Gbps | 2,000 Mbps | 250 MB/s | 237.3 MB/s | 4 s | 3 min 20 s | 10 min |
| 2.5 Gbps | 2,500 Mbps | 312.5 MB/s | 296.7 MB/s | 3.2 s | 2 min 40 s | 8 min |
| 5 Gbps | 5,000 Mbps | 625 MB/s | 593.3 MB/s | 1.6 s | 1 min 20 s | 4 min |
| 8 Gbps | 8,000 Mbps | 1,000 MB/s | 949.3 MB/s | 1 s | 50 s | 2 min 30 s |
| 10 Gbps | 10,000 Mbps | 1,250 MB/s | 1,186.6 MB/s | 0.8 s | 40 s | 2 min |
Why does 1 Gbps download at only 125 MB/s?
A 1 Gbps connection tops out at 125 MB/s because speeds are sold in bits while downloads are counted in bytes, and 1,000 Mbps ÷ 8 bits per byte = 125 MB/s.
The lowercase b in Gbps and Mbps stands for bits. The uppercase B in GB/s and MB/s stands for bytes. Internet providers, Ethernet standards and Wi-Fi specs quote bits because data travels over a link one bit at a time. Operating systems, browsers and download managers show bytes because files are stored in bytes.
- 1 Gbps = 1,000 Mbps = 125 MB/s
- 1 GB/s = 8 Gbps = 8,000 Mbps
- 100 Mbps = 12.5 MB/s
So when a game launcher shows 110 MB/s on a gigabit plan, the connection is performing well: 110 × 8 = 880 Mbps. When it shows 110 Mbps, that is only 13.75 MB/s. Always check the letter case before deciding your connection is slow. Every bit and byte unit, from kilobits to terabytes, is on the data storage converter.
Why do gigabit speed tests top out near 940 Mbps?
Speed tests top out near 940 Mbps because about 5.1% of every Ethernet frame is headers and framing rather than your data. Every packet carries headers and framing on top of the data. With a standard 1,500-byte Ethernet payload, the frame on the wire is 1,538 bytes once the header, checksum, preamble and inter-frame gap are counted, and IPv4 plus TCP headers use another 40 bytes. That leaves 1,460 bytes of useful data per frame, so the best a 1 Gbps link can deliver is about 949 Mbps. Speed tests usually land between 900 and 945 Mbps on a healthy wired connection.
Other common bottlenecks
- Wi-Fi: distance, walls and older devices often cap real throughput well below the plan speed.
- Network ports: a 1 GbE port cannot deliver a 2 Gbps plan. You need 2.5 GbE or faster on both the router and the computer.
- Cables: Cat5e is rated for 1 Gbps at up to 100 m, Cat6 for 10 Gbps at up to about 55 m, and Cat6a for 10 Gbps at the full 100 m.
- Servers: many download servers limit each connection, so a single file may not use your whole plan.
For big transfers, the time adds up quickly: moving a 4 TB backup over a perfect 1 Gbps link takes at least 32,000 seconds, almost 9 hours. Size the job with the GB to TB converter, then turn seconds into hours with the seconds to minutes converter.
Common interfaces in Gbps, Mbps and MB/s
These are nominal signaling or maximum link rates. Line encoding and protocol overhead reduce the data you actually move; USB 3.2 Gen 1, for example, uses 8b/10b encoding, so only 80% of its 5 Gbps carries data. Wi-Fi figures are theoretical maximums that real devices rarely reach.
| Interface | Gbps | Mbps | MB/s (÷ 8) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Ethernet (100BASE-TX) | 0.1 Gbps | 100 Mbps | 12.5 MB/s |
| USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | 0.48 Gbps | 480 Mbps | 60 MB/s |
| Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) | 1 Gbps | 1,000 Mbps | 125 MB/s |
| 2.5GBASE-T Ethernet | 2.5 Gbps | 2,500 Mbps | 312.5 MB/s |
| 5GBASE-T Ethernet | 5 Gbps | 5,000 Mbps | 625 MB/s |
| USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) | 5 Gbps | 5,000 Mbps | 625 MB/s |
| Wi-Fi 6 / 6E, maximum PHY rate | 9.6 Gbps | 9,600 Mbps | 1,200 MB/s |
| 10GBASE-T Ethernet | 10 Gbps | 10,000 Mbps | 1,250 MB/s |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2 | 10 Gbps | 10,000 Mbps | 1,250 MB/s |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 | 20 Gbps | 20,000 Mbps | 2,500 MB/s |
| Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, USB4 | 40 Gbps | 40,000 Mbps | 5,000 MB/s |
| HDMI 2.1 (FRL) | 48 Gbps | 48,000 Mbps | 6,000 MB/s |
Sources and further reading
The standards and references behind the numbers on this page. Links open in a new tab.
Standards and official sources
Further reading
- Units of informationWikipedia
Gbps to Mbps FAQs
Short, exact answers to what people ask most.
How many Mbps are in 1 Gbps?
One gigabit per second equals exactly 1,000 megabits per second. Network speeds always use decimal prefixes, so there is no 1,024 version.
How many MB/s is 1 Gbps?
1 Gbps is 125 MB/s before overhead, because 1,000 Mbps ÷ 8 = 125. After TCP/IP and Ethernet overhead, the best real rate is about 118.7 MB/s.
Why does my 1 Gbps connection only show 940 Mbps?
Headers and framing take about 5% of every packet, so a perfect wired gigabit link delivers roughly 949 Mbps of actual data at most. A result between 900 and 945 Mbps means the connection is working at full speed.
How long does it take to download 100 GB at 1 Gbps?
At the full 125 MB/s, 100 GB takes 800 seconds, which is 13 min 20 s. Real downloads usually take a little longer because of overhead and server limits.
Is Gbps the same as GBps?
No. Gbps is gigabits per second and GBps (GB/s) is gigabytes per second. Because a byte is 8 bits, 1 GB/s equals 8 Gbps.
Is 1 Gbps faster than 500 Mbps?
Yes, 1 Gbps is 1,000 Mbps, twice as fast as 500 Mbps. A 50 GB download drops from about 13 min 20 s to about 6 min 40 s at the full rated speed.
How many Mbps is 2.5 Gbps?
2.5 Gbps is 2,500 Mbps, which works out to 312.5 MB/s before overhead. It is the speed of a 2.5GBASE-T Ethernet port.
How many Mbps is 10 Gbps?
10 Gbps equals 10,000 Mbps, or 1,250 MB/s of raw throughput.
What is 0.5 Gbps in Mbps?
0.5 Gbps is 500 Mbps, half a gigabit. A 1 GB file takes at least 16 s at that speed.
Related conversions
SI prefixes from the BIPM SI Brochure (9th edition); Ethernet frame sizes and link rates from IEEE 802.3, including 802.3bz for 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T; USB rates from the USB-IF USB 3.2 and USB4 specifications. Last updated . How we verify our numbers.