Converting file size in bytes to human-readable string

Question

Here's one I wrote:

/**
 * Format bytes as human-readable text.
 * 
 * @param bytes Number of bytes.
 * @param si True to use metric (SI) units, aka powers of 1000. False to use 
 *           binary (IEC), aka powers of 1024.
 * @param dp Number of decimal places to display.
 * 
 * @return Formatted string.
 */
function humanFileSize(bytes, si=false, dp=1) {
  const thresh = si ? 1000 : 1024;

  if (Math.abs(bytes) < thresh) {
    return bytes + ' B';
  }

  const units = si 
    ? ['kB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB', 'PB', 'EB', 'ZB', 'YB'] 
    : ['KiB', 'MiB', 'GiB', 'TiB', 'PiB', 'EiB', 'ZiB', 'YiB'];
  let u = -1;
  const r = 10**dp;

  do {
    bytes /= thresh;
    ++u;
  } while (Math.round(Math.abs(bytes) * r) / r >= thresh && u < units.length - 1);


  return bytes.toFixed(dp) + ' ' + units[u];
}


console.log(humanFileSize(1551859712))  // 1.4 GiB
console.log(humanFileSize(5000, true))  // 5.0 kB
console.log(humanFileSize(5000, false))  // 4.9 KiB
console.log(humanFileSize(-10000000000000000000000000000))  // -8271.8 YiB
console.log(humanFileSize(999949, true))  // 999.9 kB
console.log(humanFileSize(999950, true))  // 1.0 MB
console.log(humanFileSize(999950, true, 2))  // 999.95 kB
console.log(humanFileSize(999500, true, 0))  // 1 MB

Another embodiment of the calculation

function humanFileSize(size) {
    var i = Math.floor( Math.log(size) / Math.log(1024) );
    return ( size / Math.pow(1024, i) ).toFixed(2) * 1 + ' ' + ['B', 'kB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB'][i];
};

It depends on whether you want to use the binary or decimal convention.

RAM, for instance, is always measured in binary, so to express 1551859712 as ~1.4GiB would be correct.

On the other hand, hard disk manufacturers like to use decimal, so they would call it ~1.6GB.

And just to be confusing, floppy disks use a mixture of the two systems - their 1MB is actually 1024000 bytes.

Here is a prototype to convert a number to a readable string respecting the new international standards.

There are two ways to represent big numbers: You could either display them in multiples of 1000 = 10 3 (base 10) or 1024 = 2 10 (base 2). If you divide by 1000, you probably use the SI prefix names, if you divide by 1024, you probably use the IEC prefix names. The problem starts with dividing by 1024. Many applications use the SI prefix names for it and some use the IEC prefix names. The current situation is a mess. If you see SI prefix names you do not know whether the number is divided by 1000 or 1024

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnitsPolicy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Quantities_of_bytes

Object.defineProperty(Number.prototype,'fileSize',{value:function(a,b,c,d){
 return (a=a?[1e3,'k','B']:[1024,'K','iB'],b=Math,c=b.log,
 d=c(this)/c(a[0])|0,this/b.pow(a[0],d)).toFixed(2)
 +' '+(d?(a[1]+'MGTPEZY')[--d]+a[2]:'Bytes');
},writable:false,enumerable:false});

This function contains no loop, and so it's probably faster than some other functions.

Usage:

IEC prefix

console.log((186457865).fileSize()); // default IEC (power 1024)
//177.82 MiB
//KiB,MiB,GiB,TiB,PiB,EiB,ZiB,YiB

SI prefix

console.log((186457865).fileSize(1)); //1,true for SI (power 1000)
//186.46 MB 
//kB,MB,GB,TB,PB,EB,ZB,YB

i set the IEC as default because i always used binary mode to calculate the size of a file... using the power of 1024

---

If you just want one of them in a short oneliner function:

SI

function fileSizeSI(a,b,c,d,e){
 return (b=Math,c=b.log,d=1e3,e=c(a)/c(d)|0,a/b.pow(d,e)).toFixed(2)
 +' '+(e?'kMGTPEZY'[--e]+'B':'Bytes')
}
//kB,MB,GB,TB,PB,EB,ZB,YB

IEC

function fileSizeIEC(a,b,c,d,e){
 return (b=Math,c=b.log,d=1024,e=c(a)/c(d)|0,a/b.pow(d,e)).toFixed(2)
 +' '+(e?'KMGTPEZY'[--e]+'iB':'Bytes')
}
//KiB,MiB,GiB,TiB,PiB,EiB,ZiB,YiB

Usage:

console.log(fileSizeIEC(7412834521));

if you have some questions about the functions just ask

sizeOf = function (bytes) {
  if (bytes == 0) { return "0.00 B"; }
  var e = Math.floor(Math.log(bytes) / Math.log(1024));
  return (bytes/Math.pow(1024, e)).toFixed(2)+' '+' KMGTP'.charAt(e)+'B';
}

sizeOf(2054110009);
//=> "1.91 GB"

sizeOf(7054110);
//=> "6.73 MB"

sizeOf( (3*1024*1024) );
//=> "3.00 MB"

Solution as ReactJS Component

Bytes = React.createClass({
    formatBytes() {
        var i = Math.floor(Math.log(this.props.bytes) / Math.log(1024));
        return !this.props.bytes && '0 Bytes' || (this.props.bytes / Math.pow(1024, i)).toFixed(2) + " " + ['Bytes', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB', 'PB', 'EB', 'ZB', 'YB'][i]
    },
    render () {
        return (
            <span>{ this.formatBytes() }</span>
        );
    }
});

UPDATE For those using es6 here is a stateless version of this same component

const sufixes = ['Bytes', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB', 'PB', 'EB', 'ZB', 'YB'];
const getBytes = (bytes) => {
  const i = Math.floor(Math.log(bytes) / Math.log(1024));
  return !bytes && '0 Bytes' || (bytes / Math.pow(1024, i)).toFixed(2) + " " + sufixes[i];
};

const Bytes = ({ bytes }) => (<span>{ getBytes(bytes) }</span>);

Bytes.propTypes = {
  bytes: React.PropTypes.number,
};

Based on cocco's idea, here's a less compact -but hopefully more comprehensive- example.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>File info</title>

<script>
<!--
function fileSize(bytes) {
    var exp = Math.log(bytes) / Math.log(1024) | 0;
    var result = (bytes / Math.pow(1024, exp)).toFixed(2);

    return result + ' ' + (exp == 0 ? 'bytes': 'KMGTPEZY'[exp - 1] + 'B');
}

function info(input) {
    input.nextElementSibling.textContent = fileSize(input.files[0].size);
} 
-->
</script>
</head>

<body>
<label for="upload-file"> File: </label>
<input id="upload-file" type="file" onchange="info(this)">
<div></div>
</body>
</html>