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Mac Displaying Wrong File Size?

Hi Guys,


I have a problem with my mac displaying thewrong files sizes.


For example a MP4 video file that is on myPC, is 107 MB but when I copy this same file on to my mac it says the file size is 112.MB. When I check the item propertieson my pc it says 107MB (112,230,289 Bytes), which is the same size as the mac.


My question is how do I change the filesize units on my mac to equal the pc units.


Thanks

Posted on Oct 27, 2011 9:21 AM

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Posted on Oct 27, 2011 10:25 AM

The Mac is reporting file size in megabytes. Windows is reporting file size in mebibytes. The difference is that a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes, while a mebibyte is 1,048,576 bytes. This change was made in Mac OS X so that reported disk sizes would agree with manufacturer's claimed sizes... most manufacturers claiming a size of 500 GB mean 500,000,000,000 bytes. Mac OS X will also call that number of bytes 500 GB, while Windows will call it 465.7 GB. That confused a lot of people.


For more information, see:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte#Consumer_confusion

7 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 27, 2011 10:25 AM in response to Robbie1990

The Mac is reporting file size in megabytes. Windows is reporting file size in mebibytes. The difference is that a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes, while a mebibyte is 1,048,576 bytes. This change was made in Mac OS X so that reported disk sizes would agree with manufacturer's claimed sizes... most manufacturers claiming a size of 500 GB mean 500,000,000,000 bytes. Mac OS X will also call that number of bytes 500 GB, while Windows will call it 465.7 GB. That confused a lot of people.


For more information, see:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte#Consumer_confusion

Mac Displaying Wrong File Size?

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