Question

How can I convert byte size into a human-readable format in Java?

Like 1024 should become "1 Kb" and 1024*1024 should become "1 Mb".

I am kind of sick of writing this utility method for each project. Is there a static method in Apache Commons for this?

Answer 1

Fun fact: The original snippet posted here was the most copied Java snippet of all time on Stack Overflow, and it was flawed. It was fixed, but it got messy.

Full story in this article: The most copied Stack Overflow snippet of all time is flawed!

Source: Formatting byte size to human readable format | Programming.Guide

SI (1 k = 1,000)

public static String humanReadableByteCountSI(long bytes) {
    if (-1000 < bytes && bytes < 1000) {
        return bytes + " B";
    }
    CharacterIterator ci = new StringCharacterIterator("kMGTPE");
    while (bytes <= -999_950 || bytes >= 999_950) {
        bytes /= 1000;
        ci.next();
    }
    return String.format("%.1f %cB", bytes / 1000.0, ci.current());
}

Binary (1 Ki = 1,024)

public static String humanReadableByteCountBin(long bytes) {
    long absB = bytes == Long.MIN_VALUE ? Long.MAX_VALUE : Math.abs(bytes);
    if (absB < 1024) {
        return bytes + " B";
    }
    long value = absB;
    CharacterIterator ci = new StringCharacterIterator("KMGTPE");
    for (int i = 40; i >= 0 && absB > 0xfffccccccccccccL >> i; i -= 10) {
        value >>= 10;
        ci.next();
    }
    value *= Long.signum(bytes);
    return String.format("%.1f %ciB", value / 1024.0, ci.current());
}

Example output:

                             SI     BINARY

                  0:        0 B        0 B
                 27:       27 B       27 B
                999:      999 B      999 B
               1000:     1.0 kB     1000 B
               1023:     1.0 kB     1023 B
               1024:     1.0 kB    1.0 KiB
               1728:     1.7 kB    1.7 KiB
             110592:   110.6 kB  108.0 KiB
            7077888:     7.1 MB    6.8 MiB
          452984832:   453.0 MB  432.0 MiB
        28991029248:    29.0 GB   27.0 GiB
      1855425871872:     1.9 TB    1.7 TiB
9223372036854775807:     9.2 EB    8.0 EiB   (Long.MAX_VALUE)