# pretty-bytes > Convert bytes to a human readable string: `1337` → `1.34 kB` Useful for displaying file sizes for humans. *Note that it uses base-10 (e.g. kilobyte). [Read about the difference between kilobyte and kibibyte.](https://web.archive.org/web/20150324153922/https://pacoup.com/2009/05/26/kb-kb-kib-whats-up-with-that/)* ## Install ``` $ npm install pretty-bytes ``` ## Usage ```js const prettyBytes = require('pretty-bytes'); prettyBytes(1337); //=> '1.34 kB' prettyBytes(100); //=> '100 B' // Display with units of bits prettyBytes(1337, {bits: true}); //=> '1.34 kbit' // Display file size differences prettyBytes(42, {signed: true}); //=> '+42 B' // Localized output using German locale prettyBytes(1337, {locale: 'de'}); //=> '1,34 kB' ``` ## API ### prettyBytes(number, options?) #### number Type: `number` The number to format. #### options Type: `object` ##### signed Type: `boolean`\ Default: `false` Include plus sign for positive numbers. If the difference is exactly zero a space character will be prepended instead for better alignment. ##### bits Type: `boolean`\ Default: `false` Format the number as [bits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit) instead of [bytes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte). This can be useful when, for example, referring to [bit rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rate). ##### binary Type: `boolean`\ Default: `false` Format the number using the [Binary Prefix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix) instead of the [SI Prefix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix). This can be useful for presenting memory amounts. However, this should not be used for presenting file sizes. ##### locale Type: `boolean | string`\ Default: `false` *(No localization)* **Important:** Only the number and decimal separator are localized. The unit title is not and will not be localized. - If `true`: Localize the output using the system/browser locale. - If `string`: Expects a [BCP 47 language tag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IETF_language_tag) (For example: `en`, `de`, …) - If `string[]`: Expects a list of [BCP 47 language tags](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IETF_language_tag) (For example: `en`, `de`, …) **Note:** Localization should generally work in browsers. Node.js needs to be [built](https://github.com/nodejs/node/wiki/Intl) with `full-icu` or `system-icu`. Alternatively, the [`full-icu`](https://github.com/unicode-org/full-icu-npm) module can be used to provide support at runtime. [Node.js 13](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v13.0.0/) and later ships with ICU by default. ##### minimumFractionDigits Type: `number`\ Default: `undefined` The minimum number of fraction digits to display. If neither `minimumFractionDigits` or `maximumFractionDigits` are set, the default behavior is to round to 3 significant digits. ```js const prettyBytes = require('pretty-bytes'); // Show the number with at least 3 fractional digits prettyBytes(1900, {minimumFractionDigits: 3}); //=> '1.900 kB' prettyBytes(1900); //=> '1.9 kB' ``` ##### maximumFractionDigits Type: `number`\ Default: `undefined` The maximum number of fraction digits to display. If neither `minimumFractionDigits` or `maximumFractionDigits` are set, the default behavior is to round to 3 significant digits. ```js const prettyBytes = require('pretty-bytes'); // Show the number with at most 1 fractional digit prettyBytes(1920, {maximumFractionDigits: 1}); //=> '1.9 kB' prettyBytes(1920); //=> '1.92 kB' ``` ## Related - [pretty-bytes-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/pretty-bytes-cli) - CLI for this module - [pretty-ms](https://github.com/sindresorhus/pretty-ms) - Convert milliseconds to a human readable string