Transfer rate is information per unit time
CalcOS converts every supported rate through bits per second. A byte contains exactly eight bits. The time denominator remains one second throughout this family.
result = value × source-in-bit/s ÷ destination-in-bit/s
Symbols are case-sensitive: Mbit/s is megabits per second, while MB/s is megabytes per second. At the same prefix, one byte-per-second unit equals eight bit-per-second units.
Decimal and binary rates
| Rate | Exact bit/s | System |
|---|---|---|
| 1 kbit/s | 1,000 | decimal |
| 1 Kibit/s | 1,024 | IEC binary |
| 1 MB/s | 8,000,000 | decimal |
| 1 MiB/s | 8,388,608 | IEC binary |
Transfer rate is not storage capacity
A file size such as 1 GB is a quantity of information. A connection speed such as 1 Gbit/s is information per second. CalcOS keeps those families separate and does not infer transfer duration, network overhead, congestion, or application throughput.
Authoritative references: IEC 80000-13:2025 and NIST binary-prefix reference.