Mbps → MB/s Throughput
Network interfaces are rated in bits per second. Storage systems and application-layer throughput are measured in bytes per second. The 8:1 ratio means your 1 Gbps link delivers at most ~125 MB/s of payload — before protocol overhead.
Bidirectional Throughput Converter
Convert between network link speed (Mbps) and storage throughput (MB/s) in both directions.
Common Interface Reference
Standard network interfaces with theoretical and real-world throughput.
| Interface | Mbps | MB/s (Real) |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Ethernet | 100 | ~11.9 MB/s |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 1,000 | ~118.8 MB/s |
| 2.5 GbE | 2,500 | ~297 MB/s |
| 10 GbE (SFP+) | 10,000 | ~1.16 GB/s |
| 25 GbE | 25,000 | ~2.91 GB/s |
| 100 GbE (QSFP28) | 100,000 | ~11.63 GB/s |
| 400 GbE (QSFP-DD) | 400,000 | ~46.5 GB/s |
Bits vs. Bytes: The 8× Trap in Capacity Planning
ISPs market bandwidth in megabits per second (Mbps). Every storage metric — NVMe throughput, S3 egress, CDN logs — reports in megabytes per second (MB/s). The conversion is straightforward (÷8) but the implications compound: protocol overhead (TCP/IP headers, Ethernet framing, TLS negotiation) consumes ~3–7% of the wire rate. A 10 Gbps link theoretically delivers 1,250 MB/s; in practice, expect ~1,160 MB/s for bulk transfer with jumbo frames.
For cloud egress planning, this gap directly impacts your monthly bill: AWS charges per GB transferred, and underestimating payload size by the bit/byte factor of 8 means you'll provision 8× less bandwidth than needed — or pay 8× more in overage fees than budgeted.