Record-breaking new internet speed of 1.02 petabits could download entire Netflix catalog in one second

Japan is pioneering ultra-fast internet speed that allows you to download the entire Netflix catalog in one second.

Using fiber optics, Japanese researchers transferred an outstanding amount of data at incredibly high speed.

That number is so high it’s even difficult to spell.

But there’s already a catch.

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Mind-blowing internet speed

A team of Japanese researchers managed to send 1.02 petabits of data over a distance of 1,118 miles (1,808 kilometers) using 19-core optical fiber.

That number is so large it doesn’t even make sense.

For reference, a petabit is equivalent to 1,000 trillion bits.

We’d like to write that number down using the correct amount of zeros, but we’d likely run out of bandwidth and we’d definitely out of brain capacity.

Either way, translated into understandable terms, it means Japan is pioneering ultra-fast internet speed technology that allows you to send the entire Netflix catalog in about one second.

But there’s a catch.

For now, researchers have only been able to do that over relatively short distances.

Which presumably means you won’t be able to WhatsApp the entire Netflix catalog to your friend who lives halfway across the globe in the near future.

The future of the internet

SpaceX’s Starlink is arguably the biggest and most important internet-related change we’ve seen in our lifetime.

Before Starlink, internet network relied on cables and wires either on land or, for the most part, underwater.

With Starlink, it relies on satellites.

As of June 2025, Starlink relies on around 7,000 satellites, but that number is going up.

This new tech is being adopted across the board, both by private individuals and companies, including cruise companies.

Internet as we know it will continue to exist in the foreseeable future, but the satellite-based system will likely continue to grow.