Brian Cryer's Glossary of IT Terms with Links

kbps

kbps

1. kbps = Kilo-bits per second. A common means of expressing data transfer rates.

Strictly 1kbps = 1024 bits per second (bps) = 128 bytes per second. However, it is often taken to mean 1000 bps, i.e. 1kbps=125 bytes per second.

As a rule of thumb, when estimating network/modem throughput, a figure of 1kbps=100 bytes per second is probably closer to the real throughput after other networking overheads are taken into consideration.

2. kBps (note the capital B) = kilobytes per second, i.e. the number of bytes of data that can be transferred per second. 1kBps = 8kbps. Also rendered as KBps.