To avoid this confusion with standard scientific usage of "mega-" and so on, the terms "kibibyte" (KiB), "mebibyte" (MiB), "gibibyte" (GiB) and "tebibyte" are now recommended for these non-decimal technical units. (To confuse matters, "1 KB" or "1K" is used by many computer people to mean 1024 bytes, which is a convenient number in binary, and memory or disk is often allocated by operating systems in units of 1024. In short, the "kilo-", "mega-", "giga-" and "tera-" prefixes are similar to their use in any other unit of measurement, like metres or watts: What do each of the units of computer storage actually mean? Some of us get impatient waiting for the computer for more than half a second. It's still 15 seconds, even if it's a background download. People may also be reluctant to keep files that consume more storage than they are worth, and so delete them. If someone intends to keep the document or image or archives all email, it might be replicated on backup media many times over. (There are other things that can cause slow "rendering" of a page, such as Javascript or a complex website "back-end".) Large image files on a web page often have to be scaled by the browser software and mean navigating and scrolling through the page can be slow and erratic. Large emails can slow down access to an email inbox, and will increase the size of mailbox files on the recipients' computers. Once downloaded, larger files are harder to manipulate. GreenNet doesn't limit bandwidth, but it is subject to a "fair use" policy. Transmission also consumes a greater amount of energy, and it may result in having to upgrade hardware (up to 80% of energy over the lifetime of computer equipment is "embodied", that is, in its manufacture). Even on the fastest broadband, uploading is often limited to 256kbps, so if you expect a 10MB file to be retransmitted, that is likely to be slower than expected.Ī large file on its own may be no problem, but when multiplied by the size of the audience it can cause bandwidth problems that affect internet service providers and other users. And older broadband connections or in rural areas the download speed might be 512kbps and the transfer still takes several minutes. A 10MB download on dial-up might take nearly an hour. Why worry about file size when it only takes someone on high-speed broadband 15 seconds to download a 10MB file?Īlthough the download might take 15 seconds for some people (eg GreenNet ADSL2+ broadband offering speeds "up to" 12Mbps), 10% of household internet connections in the UK as at 2009 are still dial-up, higher in many other countries. Instead, you could create a lower-resolution or even text-only version of the PDF, put that on your website, and email a link to the file, perhaps with a little indicator of the file size (like "") next to the download link. What would be unreasonable is then to email the finished 10MB file to your list of 2000 supporters. If you are signing off on a report that is intended to go to the printers, then emailing a 10MB PDF attachment to a few people asking for final comments is completely reasonable. So how big is too big? Obviously, it depends on the context. The two words are synonymous in this context.) (By the way, the Microsoft term "document" for files never really caught on. Similarly, you might want to consider whether it's easier for people, including those with visual impairments, to read the date and time of an event from a text email, or to have to open a large PDF or image file of a poster. For instance, making transcripts available on a web site might help people to find the information they are looking for more quickly than having audio or video interviews alone. Software packages that consume excessive memory and disk space for their function are sometimes called "bloatware", and one could apply a similar aesthetic to media files. If care is not taken, it is possible to produce a large media file that actually conveys no more information to people than a file a tenth or a hundredth of the size. Although most people nowadays seem to have internet connections which cope easily with audio, video and high-resolution images, it is worth remembering that many people do not. So we really want to think of the sizes of files in a tidy, minimalist way and thereby make the most of the resources we already have. This GreenNet guide is here to help you tell the whales from the minnows.Ĭomputer resources do have physical limits to their capacities, even if the idea of computer resources can be scaled up indefinitely. Keeping mind of your kilobytes (kB) and megabytes (MB) can prevent problems and produce a smoother online experience. Every file on a computer uses a certain amount of resources when sent over the internet or stored.
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