Measuring correctly
What is Mbps? Megabits, megabytes and real download times
Mbps (megabits per second) shows how many million bits your connection can carry each second. Download managers and browsers usually show MB/s (megabytes per second). One byte is 8 bits, so a 100 Mbps line downloads roughly 12.5 MB/s at best. On HIZTESTI a typical fixed-line download in Turkey is 43.5 Mbps, roughly 5.4 MB/s.
- 12.5 MB/s
- Best download speed on a 100 Mbps line
- 125 MB/s
- Best download speed on a gigabit line
- 5.4 MB/s
- Typical fixed-line download on HIZTESTI
Why are Mbps and MB/s different?
Lower-case b is bit, upper-case B is byte. A bit is the smallest unit a computer moves; eight bits make one byte. Providers and speed tests have always talked in bits, because what crosses the wire is a stream of bits. Files are measured in bytes.
So if you have a 100 Mbps plan and your download manager shows about 12.5 MB/s, nothing is wrong: the two screens state the same speed in different units. On a gigabit (1000 Mbps) line that's about 125 MB/s.
In practice you'll see a bit less: every packet carries information the wire itself needs. We worked out that share in is 100 Mbps really 100.
How do you work out download time from Mbps?
- Convert the file size to megabits: multiply megabytes by 8. A gigabyte is roughly 1000 megabytes.
- Divide by the Mbps figure from your speed test; the result is the best-case time in seconds.
- Real time is a little longer: the server's speed, Wi-Fi and other devices in use all get in the way.
A 5 GB game update, for example, is about 40,000 megabits. At HIZTESTI's typical fixed-line speed (43.5 Mbps) that takes about 15.3 minutes in the best case.
What's a typical speed in the measurements?
The typical value is the one half of measurements sit above and half below; a few extreme results can't skew it. On fixed lines the typical download is 43.5 Mbps and upload 14.1 Mbps. On mobile networks the typical download is 23.7 Mbps.
Why upload is so much lower than download: Why upload speed matters
How many Mbps is enough?
It depends on the job. Browsing and music need little; high-resolution video needs more. In games response time matters more than speed, which we show with our data in how much speed for gaming. If several people use the internet at once, their needs add up; shared connections explains how the line gets split.
Run a test first to see where your result sits. Start a speed test
The data in detail: charts and diagrams
Megabits and megabytes: an 8x difference
Distribution of fixed-line download speeds
| Mbps | Share of measurements |
|---|---|
| 0–10 | 14.9% |
| 10–25 | 18.1% |
| 25–35 | 10.2% |
| 35–45 | 8.2% |
| 45–55 | 9.5% |
| 55–75 | 8.2% |
| 75–90 | 6% |
| 90–100 | 6% |
| 100–110 | 2.5% |
| 110–180 | 4.7% |
| 180–200 | 1.8% |
| 200–300 | 3.4% |
| 300–500 | 2.8% |
| 500–900 | 3.1% |
| 900–1000 | 0.7% |
| 1000+ | 0% |
HIZTESTI measurements · 1 Jul – 28 Sep 2026 · fixed line
Frequently asked questions
- Are Mbps and MBps the same?
- No. Mbps is megabits, MBps or MB/s is megabytes, and there's an 8x difference. 100 Mbps is about 12.5 MB/s.
- How long does a 1 GB file take on 100 Mbps?
- Around a minute and a half at best. One gigabyte is about 8000 megabits; divided by 100 that's 80 seconds, and in practice a little longer because of the server and Wi-Fi.
- What does Gbps mean?
- Gigabits per second; 1 Gbps equals 1000 Mbps. It's common on fiber plans.
- My speed test shows Mbps and my download manager shows MB/s. Which is right?
- Both, in different units. Multiply the MB/s figure by 8 and it roughly matches the Mbps in your speed test.
Sources
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