# Network Throughput Calculator

> Work out the real throughput of a transfer from the data moved and the time it took, in Mbps, Gbps, MB/s and MiB/s, and compare it with your link speed.

Category: IT, networking & security · Applies to: Worldwide · Last updated: 2026-10-29
Interactive calculator: https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/network-throughput-calculator

Throughput is data moved divided by time. Links are rated in bits per second with decimal prefixes, while files are often shown in binary bytes, so the units are converted explicitly.

Also called: Transfer rate calculator, Data rate calculator.

## Inputs
- Data transferred (default 1)
- Data unit (options: bytes, KB (10³ bytes), MB (10⁶ bytes), GB (10⁹ bytes), TB (10¹² bytes), KiB (2¹⁰ bytes), MiB (2²⁰ bytes), GiB (2³⁰ bytes), TiB (2⁴⁰ bytes); default GB)
- Time taken (default 10)
- Time unit (options: Seconds, Minutes, Hours; default s)
- Link speed (optional) (unit Mbps; default 1000; optional)

## Results
- Throughput
- Throughput
- Throughput in megabytes
- Throughput in mebibytes
- Link utilisation

## Formula

```
Throughput (bit/s) = Bytes × 8 ÷ Seconds;  Mbps = bit/s ÷ 10⁶;  MB/s = bytes/s ÷ 10⁶;  MiB/s = bytes/s ÷ 2²⁰
```

Where:
- Bytes: data moved, with 1 GB = 10⁹ bytes and 1 GiB = 2³⁰ bytes
- Seconds: elapsed transfer time

## Worked example
1. 1 GB = 10⁹ bytes = 8 × 10⁹ bits.
2. 8 × 10⁹ bits ÷ 10 s = 8 × 10⁸ bit/s = 800 Mbps = 100 MB/s.
3. 100 × 10⁶ ÷ 1,048,576 = 95.367 MiB/s; 800 of 1,000 Mbps is 80%.

**Result:** Moving 1 GB in 10 seconds is 800 Mbps (100 MB/s), 80% of a gigabit link.

## What the result means

Expect application throughput a few per cent below the line rate because of Ethernet, IP and TCP headers. Far lower results usually point to latency with a small TCP window, disk speed, Wi-Fi, or a busy link.

## Assumptions and limits
- The time covers only the transfer itself.
- Link speeds use SI prefixes (1 Mbps = 10⁶ bit/s), as network equipment does.
- A single average hides bursts and stalls during the transfer.

## Questions

### Is 100 MB/s the same as 100 Mbps?

No. A byte is 8 bits, so 100 MB/s is 800 Mbps. Lower-case b means bits, upper-case B means bytes.

### Why does my file manager show a lower MB/s figure?

Many operating systems divide by 1,048,576 (MiB) but label it MB, which reads about 4.6% lower than decimal megabytes.

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Source: GM¹X CalcVerse — https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/network-throughput-calculator