Bandwidth Calculator

Bandwidth measures the maximum data transfer rate of a network connection, expressed in bits per second (bps). Internet speeds are marketed in megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps), while file sizes are measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). Since 1 byte equals 8 bits, a 100 Mbps connection transfers at most 12.5 MB per second. This distinction between bits and bytes is a common source of confusion. ISPs advertise speeds in megabits to make numbers appear larger, while operating systems display file sizes in megabytes. To convert: divide Mbps by 8 to get MB/s, or multiply MB/s by 8 to get Mbps. Real-world throughput is always lower than advertised bandwidth due to protocol overhead (TCP/IP headers, encryption), network congestion, latency, and the difference between half-duplex and full-duplex connections. Expect 70-90% of the theoretical maximum in practice. For streaming applications, bandwidth requirements depend on quality: standard definition video needs 3-5 Mbps, HD requires 5-10 Mbps, 4K demands 25-50 Mbps, and 8K may need 80-100 Mbps. Audio streaming requires 0.1-0.3 Mbps depending on quality. When planning network capacity for multiple users, consider concurrent usage. If 10 people each need 10 Mbps simultaneously, you need at least 100 Mbps of total bandwidth, plus overhead.