- published: 23 Apr 2013
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The kilobyte (symbol: kB) is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol kB or KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 (210) bytes or 1000 (103) bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information technology.
For example:
In December 1998, the IEC addressed such multiple usages and definitions by creating unique binary prefixes to denote multiples of 1024, such as “kibibyte (KiB)”, which represents 210, or 1024, bytes. However, adoption by the computer industry has not been universal, particularly when communicating in a public context, such as to consumers of computer or computer based products.