Bits and Bytes

What are bits, bytes, and other units of measure for digital information?

A bit is a binary digit, the smallest increment of data on a computer. A bit can hold only one of two values: 0 or 1, corresponding to the electrical values of off or on, respectively.

Because bits are so small, you rarely work with information one bit at a time. Bits are usually assembled into a group of eight to form a byte. A byte contains enough information to store a single ASCII character, like “h”.

A kilobyte (KB) is 1,024 bytes, not one thousand bytes as might be expected, because computers use binary (base two) math, instead of a decimal (base ten) system.

Computer storage and memory is often measured in megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB). A medium-sized novel contains about 1 MB of information. 1 MB is 1,024 kilobytes, or 1,048,576 (1024x1024) bytes, not one million bytes.

Bits and bytes

Bits can be grouped together to make them easier to work with. A group of 8 bits is called a byte.

Other groupings include:

• Nibble — 4 bits (half a byte)
• Byte — 8 bits
• Kilobyte (KB) — 1000 bytes
• Megabyte (MB) — 1000 kilobytes
• Gigabyte (GB) — 1000 megabytes
• Terabyte (TB) — 1000 gigabytes

Most computers can process millions of bits every second. A hard drive’s storage capacity is measured in gigabytes or terabytes. RAM is often measured in megabytes or gigabytes.

Unique solutions for your business

No two businesses are the same. We believe the technology supporting your business operations should be tailored to the specific needs of your company. That’s why we offer unique IT solutions.

Our staff includes Network Engineers, Programmers and Telecommunications Experts with over 100 years of combined experience, so whatever your need, we have the tech to help you. When you call Bits & Bytes, you’re not getting just one technician, you’re getting the combined experience and expertise of the whole team.

The names and abbreviations for numbers of bytes are easily confused with the notations for bits. The abbreviations for numbers of bits use a lower-case “b” instead of an upper-case “B”. Since one byte is made up of eight bits, this difference can be significant. For example, if a broadband Internet connection is advertised with a download speed of 3.0 Mbps, its speed is 3.0 megabits per second, or 0.375 megabytes per second (which would be abbreviated as 0.375 MBps). Bits and bit rates (bits over time, as in bits per second [bps]) are most commonly used to describe connection speeds, so pay particular attention when comparing Internet connection providers and services.