kB/s to Mbps converter
To convert kB/s to Mbps, multiply by 8 and divide by 1,000. A download running at 500 kB/s is using 4 Mbps of your connection.
Tip: paste a reading like “12.4 MB/s” and the unit is picked for you.
1 kB/s equals:
- bps8,000
- kbps8
- Mbps0.008
- Gbps0.000008
- B/s1,000
- kB/s1
- MB/s0.001
- GB/s0.000001
- MiB/s0.000953674
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Formula
1 kB/s = 8,000 bits and 1 Mbps = 1,000,000 bits, so:
Common conversions
| kB/s | Mbps |
|---|---|
| 100 kB/s | 0.8 Mbps |
| 250 kB/s | 2 Mbps |
| 500 kB/s | 4 Mbps |
| 1,000 kB/s | 8 Mbps |
| 2,500 kB/s | 20 Mbps |
| 5,000 kB/s | 40 Mbps |
| 10,000 kB/s | 80 Mbps |
| 50,000 kB/s | 400 Mbps |
Where you still see kB/s
Kilobytes per second is the unit of slower transfers: browser download lists when a file is trickling in, torrent clients reporting per-peer or per-file speeds, older download managers, and phone apps on a weak mobile signal. It is a useful reading to convert because it tells you quickly whether the connection or the source is the problem.
- A slow browser download. The window shows 850 kB/s on a 100 Mbps plan. 850 × 8 ÷ 1,000 = 6.8 Mbps, under 7% of the plan. The server or a busy route is the likely limit, not your line.
- A torrent client. Total download reads 2,500 kB/s. That is 20 Mbps, and each peer contributes a slice of it.
- Mobile data. An app update crawls at 120 kB/s: just 0.96 Mbps, less than 1 Mbps.
To check your reading against a plan, run it through the speed test checker after converting.
Pitfall: KB, kB and KiB
Apps write this unit as KB/s, kB/s or KiB/s, and they do not all mean the same thing. The decimal kilobyte (kB) is 1,000 bytes; the binary kibibyte (KiB) is 1,024 bytes. Some software counts in 1,024s but still prints "KB". The difference is small but real: 1,000 KiB/s is 8.192 Mbps, while 1,000 kB/s is 8 Mbps. If your app's documentation says it uses binary units, pick KiB/s in the converter above.
Also watch the case of the b. A reading in kbps (kilobits) needs no ×8 step at all; use kbps to Mbps for that. Going the other way, Mbps to kB/s shows what a given plan speed looks like in a kB/s display, and if your figures are already above 1,000 kB/s, MB/s to Mbps is easier to read. The what is MB/s guide covers byte-based units in more depth.
Frequently asked questions
How many Mbps is 1,000 kB/s?
1,000 kB/s is 8 Mbps. Multiply kilobytes per second by 8 to get kilobits per second (8,000 kbps), then divide by 1,000 to get Mbps.
Is 500 kB/s a good download speed?
500 kB/s is 4 Mbps. That is fine for a small file, but on a plan of 50 Mbps or more it means the transfer is limited somewhere else, often by the server or Wi-Fi.
My torrent client says KiB/s. Does that change the conversion?
Slightly. 1 KiB/s is 1,024 bytes per second, which equals 0.008192 Mbps instead of 0.008 Mbps. Select KiB/s in the converter to get the exact figure.