How Many Zeros in an Exabyte?
By Vinitha Published Updated
How many zeros in an exabyte? An exabyte (EB) has 18 zeros in the decimal system: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes, or 1018 bytes. One exabyte equals 1,000 petabytes, or one quintillion bytes. The prefix "exa-" comes from the Greek "hexa" (six), marking it as the sixth SI storage step above a single byte. Zeros in a yottabyte covers the BIPM 2022 prefix decision alongside decimal versus binary sizes.
An exabyte has
18
zeros
- Written Form
- 1 followed by 18 zeros bytes
- Scientific
- 10¹⁸ bytes
- Binary (IEC)
- 2⁶⁰ bytes (EiB)
Verifying the Zero Count in an Exabyte
The direct answer: exactly 18 zeros, equal to one quintillion. The binary equivalent — an exbibyte (EiB) — equals 260 bytes, about 15.3% larger. How many zeros in a quettabyte also looks at the Square Kilometre Array's data volumes.
| Unit | Bytes | Zeros | Notation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exabyte (decimal, SI) | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 | 18 | 1018 |
| Exbibyte (binary, IEC) | 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 | — | 260 |
What Is 1 Billion Gigabytes Called?
One billion gigabytes is an exabyte. Since 1 gigabyte = 109 bytes and 1 exabyte = 1018 bytes, dividing gives exactly 109 gigabytes per exabyte. To see decimal versus binary sizes and why drives show about 931 MB per advertised GB, read how many zeros does a gigabyte have.
- Gigabyte (GB)
- 9 zeros — 1,000 MB
- Terabyte (TB)
- 12 zeros — 1,000 GB
- Petabyte (PB)
- 15 zeros — 1,000 TB
- Exabyte (EB)
- 18 zeros — 1,000 PB = 1,000,000,000 GB
How Many Exabytes of Data Exist on the Internet?
Global internet traffic surpassed 400 exabytes per month in the mid-2020s — a single exabyte could hold roughly 11 million 4K movies.
The total amount of data ever generated across all digital sources is measured in the thousands of exabytes, which is why the next unit up — the zettabyte (1021 bytes) — has become the preferred scale for describing worldwide data volumes.
Where Exabyte-Scale Numbers Appear
- Global monthly internet traffic estimates
- Total cumulative data stored by major cloud providers
- Large-scale scientific data archives (genomics, astronomy)
Watch: How Many Zeros in an Exabyte?
How many zeros in an exabyte? An exabyte has 18 zeros — 1 followed by 18 zeros bytes. Watch this short video for the zero count, the written form and the notation at a glance.
Zeros in an Exabyte: FAQ
What comes before an exabyte?
Quick answer
Petabyte comes right before exabyte — an exabyte is exactly 1,000 petabytes.
What comes after an exabyte?
Quick answer
Zettabyte comes next, followed by yottabyte.
How many digits does an exabyte have?
An exabyte has 19 digits in total — that's the digit 1 followed by 18 zeros.
Is an exabyte the same as a quintillion bytes?
Yes — a decimal exabyte (1018 bytes) is exactly one quintillion bytes.
Does any consumer device use exabyte-scale storage?
No — exabyte scale is strictly enterprise and infrastructure territory; even large corporate data centers typically measure capacity in petabytes.
How many exabytes are in a zettabyte?
Exactly 1,000 exabytes make one zettabyte.
About the Author
Designer and Developer · Palakkad, Kerala, India
Vinitha holds a bachelor's degree in Textile and Apparel Design from Avinashilingam University, plus a C-Tech certificate in Graphic Design from Image Creative Education. She builds free, no-clutter reference tools like How Many Zeros. Read her full bio.