SI Prefix Converter — kilo, mega, giga, tera, nano, micro
Convert between SI metric prefixes spanning 10⁻²⁴ (yocto) to 10²⁴ (yotta). In 2022, ronna (10²⁷) and quetta (10³⁰) were added for global data volumes. Examples: 1 kilometre = 1,000 m; 1 gigabyte = 10⁹ bytes; 1 microsecond = 10⁻⁶ s; 1 nanometre ≈ 10 hydrogen atoms wide. Used daily in science, engineering, computing, telecommunications and medicine.
About the SI Prefix Converter
SI prefixes are standardised multipliers applied to units to express very large or very small quantities concisely. From yocto (10⁻²⁴) to yotta (10²⁴), the system spans 48 orders of magnitude. Prefixes above giga (10⁹) are increasingly common in computing and data storage. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures added ronna (10²⁷) and quetta (10³⁰) in 2022 to accommodate growing data volumes. Memorising prefixes from milli to giga covers the vast majority of everyday scientific and engineering values.
- ›In 2022 the BIPM added ronna (R, 10²⁷) and quetta (Q, 10³⁰) — the largest official SI prefixes
- ›The total amount of data created globally each year is measured in zettabytes (ZB = 10²¹ bytes)
- ›A nanometre (10⁻⁹ m) is roughly the diameter of 10 hydrogen atoms placed side by side
- ›Kilo, mega, and giga come from Greek; micro and nano come from Greek meaning "small"