How to Calculate Data Transfer Rate

PDF download Download Article
PDF download Download Article

Data transfer rate is the speed that a certain amount of data is transferred over a given period of time. You might want to know the transfer rate if you’re downloading something online or transferring data from one source to another. First, convert your units so the file size and transfer speed are in either bits or bytes with the same prefix (kilo, mega, giga, or tera). Then, plug your numbers into the equation S = A ÷ T in which A is the amount of data and T is the transfer time to solve for S, the speed, or rate, of transfer. You can also determine the amount of data or the transfer time if you know one of the variables plus the speed of transfer.

Part 1
Part 1 of 2:

Converting Units

PDF download Download Article
  1. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/9\/91\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/9\/91\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    File sizes may be given in bits (b), bytes (B), Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB), Gigabytes (GB), or even Terabytes (TB). [1]
    • Pay attention to whether the letters are upper case or lower case as well. For instance, a bit is denoted with a lowercase “b” while a byte is denoted with an uppercase “B”.
  2. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/8\/82\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-2-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-2-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/8\/82\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-2-Version-3.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-2-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    Transfer speeds might be provided in bits per second (bps), bytes per second (B/s), Kilobytes per second (KB/s), Megabytes per second (MB/s), or Gigabytes per second (GB/s).
    Advertisement
  3. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/1\/19\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-3-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-3-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/1\/19\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-3-Version-3.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-3-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    Before you use the transfer rate equation, ensure you are using the same units for the size and speed. Don’t worry about the time units for now. [2]
    • 8 bits (b) = 1 byte (B); turn bits into bytes by dividing by 8, or convert bytes to bits by multiplying by 8.
    • 1,024 bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB); convert bytes to Kilobytes by dividing by 1,024 or turn Kilobytes into bytes by multiplying by 1,024.
    • 1,024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte (MB); change Kilobytes into Megabytes by dividing by 1024 or convert Megabytes into Kilobytes by multiplying by 1,024.
    • 1,024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte (GB); convert Megabytes into Gigabytes by dividing by 1024 or turn Gigabytes into Megabytes by multiplying by 1,024.
    • 1,024 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte (TB); change Gigabytes into Terabytes by dividing by 1024 or convert Terabytes into Gigabytes by multiplying by 1,024.
  4. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/a\/a1\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-4.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-4.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/a\/a1\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-4.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-4.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    As you know, there are 60 seconds in 1 minute and 60 minutes in 1 hour. To convert from seconds to minutes, divide by 60. To convert from minutes to hours, divide by 60. To convert from hours to minutes, multiply by 60. To convert from minutes to seconds, multiply by 60. [3]
    • To convert from seconds to hours, divide by 3,600 (60 x 60). Or, convert from hours to seconds by multiplying by 3,600.
    • Generally, the speed is denoted in seconds. If you have very many seconds, though, such as for large files, you can convert to minutes or even hours.
    5. Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 2:

Calculating Speed, Time, & Data

PDF download Download Article
  1. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/9\/90\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-5.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-5.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/9\/90\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-5.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-5.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    Plug the amount of data (A) and transfer time (T) to solve for the rate, or speed (S), into the equation S = A ÷ T. [4]
    • For example, you might have transferred 25 MB in 2 minutes. First, convert 2 minutes to seconds by multiplying 2 by 60, which is 120. So, S = 25 MB ÷ 120 seconds. 25 ÷ 120 = 0.208. Therefore, the transfer speed is 0.208 MB/s. If you want to turn this into Kilobytes, multiply 0.208 by 1024. 0.208 x 1024 = 212.9. So, the transfer speed is also equal to 212.9 KB/s.
  2. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/7f\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-6.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-6.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/7\/7f\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-6.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-6.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    If you want to solve for the transfer time (T) instead, input the amount of data (A) and the rate or speed (S) of transfer into the equation T = A ÷ S. [5]
    • For instance, say you transferred 134 GB at a rate of 7 MB/s. First, convert GB to MB so you’re working with the same units in each part of the equation. 134 x 1,024 = 137,217. So, you transferred 137,217 MB at a rate of 7 MB/s. To solve for T, divide 137,217 by 7, which is 19,602. Therefore, it took 19,602 seconds. To convert this to hours, divide by 3,600, which is 5.445. In other words, it took 5.445 hours to transfer 134 GB at a rate of 7 MB/s.
    • If you want to use hours and minutes, separate out the whole number and decimal: you have 5 hours and 0.445 hours. To convert 0.445 hours to minutes, multiply by 60. 0.445 x 60 = 26.7. To convert the decimal into seconds, multiply it by 60. 0.7 x 60 = 42. Altogether, it took 5 hours, 26 minutes, and 42 seconds.
  3. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/e\/e8\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-7.jpg\/v4-460px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-7.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/e\/e8\/Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-7.jpg\/aid1535115-v4-728px-Calculate-Data-Transfer-Rate-Step-7.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>\u00a9 2024 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This image is <b>not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.<br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"}
    To figure out how much data was transferred, use the equation A = T x S, in which A is the amount of data, T is the transfer time, and S is the speed or rate of transfer. [6]
    • For example, you can figure out how much data was transferred in 1.5 hours at a rate of 200 bps. First, convert hours to seconds by multiplying by 1.5 by 3,600, which is 5,400. So, A = 5,400 seconds x 200 bps. A = 1,080,000 bps. To convert to bytes, divide by 8. 1,080,000 ÷ 8 = 135,000. To convert to Kilobytes, divide by 1,024. 135,000 ÷ 1,024 = 131.84. Therefore, 131.84 KB of data was transferred in 1.5 hours at a rate of 200 bps.
    4. Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search
Add New Question
  • Question
    How do I calculate the time taken to transfer the files?
    Community Answer
    Say a file of 640,000 bits transfers by the rate of, say, 64 kbps, the time taken is 640000 / (64 x 1000) = 10 seconds.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 28 Helpful 44
  • Question
    How do I calculate data transfer rates?
    Community Answer
    For example, 50 Mbps or “50 meg a second” is not 50 Megabytes per second, but rather 50 Megabits per second. So in order to calculate the transfer rate of a file size we need to convert the size to bits, however, you can't just say that 2 Gb x 8 will give you the number of bits in the file.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 38 Helpful 54
  • Question
    How do I calculate the data transfer rate given size and baud rate?
    Community Answer
    2 kbytes = 2048 bytes. Transmission of a byte requires: 1 start bit; 8 bits = actual byte; 1 bit parity; and 2 bits stop for a total of 12 bits. The baud is 2048 * 12 = 24576 baud.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 30 Helpful 12
See more answers
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Video

      Tips

      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Name
      Please provide your name and last initial
      Submit
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
      Advertisement

      You Might Also Like

      How to
      Find the MAC Address of Your Computer
      Connect Two Computers: Microsoft Windows & Mac OS X
      How to
      Check if a Port is Open: 5 Quick Ways
      3 Ways to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows
      How to
      Forward a Port on Any Router: Easy Guide
      How to
      Get a MAC Address from an IP Remotely
      How to
      Flush DNS (Clear the Cache) in All Major Operating Systems
      How to
      Create a Local Area Network (LAN)
      How to
      Join a Domain on a Windows Computer or Mac
      How to
      Connect One Router to Another to Expand a Network
      Easy Ways to Set Up and Connect to a Local Area Network (LAN)
      2 Easy Ways to Connect to and Access Shared Folders on a Network
      How to
      Set up a Shared Network Drive
      How to
      Bypass a Firewall or Internet Filter
      Advertisement

      References

      1. ↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/understanding-file-sizes-bytes-kb-mb-gb-tb-pb-eb-zb-yb/
      2. ↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/understanding-file-sizes-bytes-kb-mb-gb-tb-pb-eb-zb-yb/
      3. ↑ https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-fifth-grade-math/imp-measurement-and-data-3/converting-units-of-time/a/converting-units-of-time-review
      4. ↑ https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/data-transfer
      5. ↑ https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/data-transfer
      6. ↑ https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/data-transfer

      About This Article

      In other languages
      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 392,377 times.

      Is this article up to date?

      Advertisement