Broadband Speed Converter
Convert broadband speeds between Mbps, MB/s and Gbps. See real-world download times for photos, songs, HD films and games at your connection speed.
Speed Conversions
Megabits per second
30.00
Mbps
Megabytes per second
3.75
MB/s
Gigabits per second
0.030
Gbps
Download Times
Mbps, MB/s and Gbps Without the Headache
ISPs sell speed in megabits per second (Mbps). Your laptop reports downloads in megabytes per second (MB/s). Eight bits in a byte, so a 100 Mbps connection delivers about 12.5 MB/s on a clean line. That single conversion is where most people get tripped up when they look at a download bar moving slower than the package they paid for.
Renters comparing two contracts before signing can paste each headline figure into the converter and see the same speed expressed three ways. A 30 Mbps line (the default here) translates to 3.75 MB/s and 0.030 Gbps. Real throughput is usually 80 to 90 percent of advertised speed, so factor in router contention, ageing copper lines and the time of evening Wi-Fi gets busy.
How Long a Download Actually Takes
On 30 Mbps, a 5 MB photo lands in about a second. A 4 GB HD film takes roughly 18 minutes; a 50 GB game closer to four hours. Bump the line to 100 Mbps and that game drops to about 70 minutes. Gigabit fibre at 1,000 Mbps clears it in under seven.
These numbers assume the file server can keep up, which it often cannot. Steam, PlayStation Network and large patch downloads sometimes throttle, and 5 GHz Wi-Fi loses about half its speed two walls away from the router. If the converter says 18 minutes and your film is taking an hour, the bottleneck is rarely your contracted speed; it is everything between the router and the device.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Mbps and MB/s?
Mbps is megabits per second, the unit ISPs advertise. MB/s is megabytes per second, the unit your operating system shows when copying or downloading. There are 8 bits in a byte, so divide Mbps by 8 to get MB/s. A 100 Mbps connection downloads at roughly 12.5 MB/s in perfect conditions.
Is 30 Mbps fast enough for a household?
30 Mbps comfortably handles 4K Netflix on one TV, video calls on a laptop and a phone scrolling social media at the same time. Two simultaneous 4K streams will start to push it. Households with three or four heavy users, big game downloads or smart home devices usually want 100 Mbps or more.
Why is my actual speed lower than advertised?
ISPs quote the maximum line speed under ideal conditions. Real throughput drops because of router quality, Wi-Fi signal loss through walls, the number of devices sharing the line, server limits at the other end, and copper-to-fibre distance. A wired Ethernet test from a laptop sat next to the router gives the most honest reading.
How does this differ from a gigabit fibre connection?
Gigabit, written 1 Gbps or 1,000 Mbps, is roughly 33 times faster than a 30 Mbps line. A 50 GB game that takes about four hours on 30 Mbps finishes in about seven minutes on gigabit. The catch is that most home Wi-Fi cannot deliver gigabit speeds wirelessly; you need a wired connection or a Wi-Fi 6E router very close by.
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