Mbps vs. MBps: Understanding the difference

What’s the difference between Mbps vs. MBps?

The main difference between the two terms comes down to bits vs. bytes. The first acronym, Mbps, with a lowercase “b,” refers to megabits per second, while the second, MBps, with a capital “B,” stands for megabytes per second.

“Megabits per second” (Mbps) measure download and upload speed, sometimes called bandwidth. For example, your favorite movie in HD may be 12 GB in size and to download it using a 10 Mbps internet plan would take nearly three hours. However, with a 500 Mbps internet plan, you’d have your movie in about three minutes. 

The phrase “megabytes per second” (MBps) indicates the rate at which a file is downloaded or uploaded. For example, AT&T TV recommends 25 Mbps for streaming live TV, which does not involve downloading and saving a file. But when downloading a video game, the rate at which you download the file might be 100 MBps.

Bit vs. byte

For context, there are 8 bits in 1 byte. Basically, a bit measures data speed. In fact, all speeds from an internet service provider will be in bits, like 100 Mbps. A byte, however, measures storage capacity, so think of a PDF that is 4 MB in size.

How do Mbps and MBps affect my online activities?

As mentioned above, both Mbps and MBps come into play when you’re downloading things from the internet — everything from loading a webpage to downloading music and movies to streaming TV.

The time it takes to download will vary based on the size of the file and how fast of an internet connection you have. Other factors can affect download times as well, such as whether you are downloading using an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi, or whether you are connected to residential or business internet.

But what if you already have high Mbps, but are still experiencing slow internet? If you have an appropriate download speed, but are still having trouble with activities such as gaming or video-chatting, then latency, not bandwidth, might be the problem. Learn the difference between bandwidth and latency and find out how to troubleshoot for this issue.

Here’s approximately how long it would take to download the following media types at various connection speeds:

Why do Mbps and MBps matter?

Knowing the difference between Mbps and MBps matters because they measure different aspects of internet speed and file size, both of which affect what you can do online. 

It’s also useful for you to know the difference between the two so you can understand how many devices you can use with your internet plan or when talking to tech support about any issues.

The bottom line: The larger the file size, the longer it takes to download 

As you can see, the larger the file size the longer it will take to download at slower speeds. This is why it’s so important to consider your online activities when choosing an internet speed. A good thing to remember is that capital letters take longer to download than lowercase letters.

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