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Bit - Wikipedia

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id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> 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class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Bit</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 99 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-99" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">99 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bis" title="Bis – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Bis" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ang mw-list-item"><a href="https://ang.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tw%C4%81ling" title="Twāling – Old English" lang="ang" hreflang="ang" data-title="Twāling" data-language-autonym="Ænglisc" data-language-local-name="Old English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ænglisc</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%AA" title="بت – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="بت" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-an mw-list-item"><a href="https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Aragonese" lang="an" hreflang="an" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Aragonés" data-language-local-name="Aragonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Aragonés</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Asturianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Azərbaycanca</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-azb mw-list-item"><a href="https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%AA" title="بیت – South Azerbaijani" lang="azb" hreflang="azb" data-title="بیت" data-language-autonym="تۆرکجه" data-language-local-name="South Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>تۆرکجه</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%9F" title="বিট – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="বিট" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-min-nan mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-min-nan.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Minnan" lang="nan" hreflang="nan" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú" data-language-local-name="Minnan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gú</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be mw-list-item"><a href="https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%96%D1%82" title="Біт – Belarusian" lang="be" hreflang="be" data-title="Біт" data-language-autonym="Беларуская" data-language-local-name="Belarusian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be-x-old mw-list-item"><a href="https://be-tarask.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%96%D1%82" title="Біт – Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" lang="be-tarask" hreflang="be-tarask" data-title="Біт" data-language-autonym="Беларуская (тарашкевіца)" data-language-local-name="Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская (тарашкевіца)</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82_(%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0)" title="Бит (информатика) – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Бит (информатика)" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bs mw-list-item"><a href="https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Bosnian" lang="bs" hreflang="bs" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Bosanski" data-language-local-name="Bosnian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bosanski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-br mw-list-item"><a href="https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Breton" lang="br" hreflang="br" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Brezhoneg" data-language-local-name="Breton" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Brezhoneg</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cy mw-list-item"><a href="https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Welsh" lang="cy" hreflang="cy" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Cymraeg" data-language-local-name="Welsh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Cymraeg</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Dansk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitt" title="Bitt – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Bitt" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%94%CF%85%CE%B1%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C_%CF%88%CE%B7%CF%86%CE%AF%CE%BF" title="Δυαδικό ψηφίο – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Δυαδικό ψηφίο" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bito" title="Bito – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Bito" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%AA_(%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87)" title="بیت (رایانه) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="بیت (رایانه)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fy mw-list-item"><a href="https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Western Frisian" lang="fy" hreflang="fy" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Frysk" data-language-local-name="Western Frisian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Frysk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fur mw-list-item"><a href="https://fur.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Friulian" lang="fur" hreflang="fur" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Furlan" data-language-local-name="Friulian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Furlan</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ga mw-list-item"><a href="https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giot%C3%A1n" title="Giotán – Irish" lang="ga" hreflang="ga" data-title="Giotán" data-language-autonym="Gaeilge" data-language-local-name="Irish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Gaeilge</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Galego</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B9%84%ED%8A%B8_(%EB%8B%A8%EC%9C%84)" title="비트 (단위) – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="비트 (단위)" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hy mw-list-item"><a href="https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B2%D5%AB%D5%A9" title="Բիթ – Armenian" lang="hy" hreflang="hy" data-title="Բիթ" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Հայերեն</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%95" title="द्वयंक – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="द्वयंक" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>हिन्दी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Hrvatski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-io mw-list-item"><a href="https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bico" title="Bico – Ido" lang="io" hreflang="io" data-title="Bico" data-language-autonym="Ido" data-language-local-name="Ido" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ido</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(satuan)" title="Bit (satuan) – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Bit (satuan)" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ia mw-list-item"><a href="https://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Interlingua" lang="ia" hreflang="ia" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Interlingua" data-language-local-name="Interlingua" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Interlingua</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-os mw-list-item"><a href="https://os.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Бит – Ossetic" lang="os" hreflang="os" data-title="Бит" data-language-autonym="Ирон" data-language-local-name="Ossetic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ирон</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zu mw-list-item"><a href="https://zu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isincwana" title="Isincwana – Zulu" lang="zu" hreflang="zu" data-title="Isincwana" data-language-autonym="IsiZulu" data-language-local-name="Zulu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>IsiZulu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-is mw-list-item"><a href="https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biti_(t%C3%B6lvufr%C3%A6%C3%B0i)" title="Biti (tölvufræði) – Icelandic" lang="is" hreflang="is" data-title="Biti (tölvufræði)" data-language-autonym="Íslenska" data-language-local-name="Icelandic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Íslenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA" title="סיבית – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="סיבית" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kn mw-list-item"><a href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%AC%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%9F%E0%B3%8D" title="ಬಿಟ್ – Kannada" lang="kn" hreflang="kn" data-title="ಬಿಟ್" data-language-autonym="ಕನ್ನಡ" data-language-local-name="Kannada" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ಕನ್ನಡ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ka mw-list-item"><a href="https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%91%E1%83%98%E1%83%A2%E1%83%98" title="ბიტი – Georgian" lang="ka" hreflang="ka" data-title="ბიტი" data-language-autonym="ქართული" data-language-local-name="Georgian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ქართული</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82_(%D3%A9%D0%BB%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BC_%D0%B1%D1%96%D1%80%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B3%D1%96)" title="Бит (өлшем бірлігі) – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Бит (өлшем бірлігі)" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sw mw-list-item"><a href="https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biti" title="Biti – Swahili" lang="sw" hreflang="sw" data-title="Biti" data-language-autonym="Kiswahili" data-language-local-name="Swahili" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Kiswahili</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ky mw-list-item"><a href="https://ky.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82_(%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8B%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82)" title="Бит (маалымат) – Kyrgyz" lang="ky" hreflang="ky" data-title="Бит (маалымат)" data-language-autonym="Кыргызча" data-language-local-name="Kyrgyz" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Кыргызча</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lo mw-list-item"><a href="https://lo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BA%9A%E0%BA%B4%E0%BA%95" title="ບິຕ – Lao" lang="lo" hreflang="lo" data-title="ບິຕ" data-language-autonym="ລາວ" data-language-local-name="Lao" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ລາວ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitus" title="Bitus – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Bitus" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lv mw-list-item"><a href="https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bits" title="Bits – Latvian" lang="lv" hreflang="lv" data-title="Bits" data-language-autonym="Latviešu" data-language-local-name="Latvian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latviešu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lb mw-list-item"><a href="https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Luxembourgish" lang="lb" hreflang="lb" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Lëtzebuergesch" data-language-local-name="Luxembourgish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lëtzebuergesch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lt mw-list-item"><a href="https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitas" title="Bitas – Lithuanian" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" data-title="Bitas" data-language-autonym="Lietuvių" data-language-local-name="Lithuanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lietuvių</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lmo mw-list-item"><a href="https://lmo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Lombard" lang="lmo" hreflang="lmo" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Lombard" data-language-local-name="Lombard" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lombard</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mk mw-list-item"><a href="https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Бит – Macedonian" lang="mk" hreflang="mk" data-title="Бит" data-language-autonym="Македонски" data-language-local-name="Macedonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Македонски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ml mw-list-item"><a href="https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%AC%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B1%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B1%E0%B5%8D" title="ബിറ്റ് – Malayalam" lang="ml" hreflang="ml" data-title="ബിറ്റ്" data-language-autonym="മലയാളം" data-language-local-name="Malayalam" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>മലയാളം</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mt mw-list-item"><a href="https://mt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Maltese" lang="mt" hreflang="mt" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Malti" data-language-local-name="Maltese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Malti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mr mw-list-item"><a href="https://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%88%E0%A4%9F" title="बाईट – Marathi" lang="mr" hreflang="mr" data-title="बाईट" data-language-autonym="मराठी" data-language-local-name="Marathi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>मराठी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Melayu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mwl mw-list-item"><a href="https://mwl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Mirandese" lang="mwl" hreflang="mwl" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Mirandés" data-language-local-name="Mirandese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Mirandés</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mn mw-list-item"><a href="https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Бит – Mongolian" lang="mn" hreflang="mn" data-title="Бит" data-language-autonym="Монгол" data-language-local-name="Mongolian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Монгол</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-my mw-list-item"><a href="https://my.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Burmese" lang="my" hreflang="my" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="မြန်မာဘာသာ" data-language-local-name="Burmese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>မြန်မာဘာသာ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(eenheid)" title="Bit (eenheid) – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Bit (eenheid)" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%83%E3%83%88" title="ビット – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="ビット" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nn mw-list-item"><a href="https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Norwegian Nynorsk" lang="nn" hreflang="nn" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Norsk nynorsk" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Nynorsk" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk nynorsk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-oc mw-list-item"><a href="https://oc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Occitan" lang="oc" hreflang="oc" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Occitan" data-language-local-name="Occitan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Occitan</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mhr mw-list-item"><a href="https://mhr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Бит – Eastern Mari" lang="mhr" hreflang="mhr" data-title="Бит" data-language-autonym="Олык марий" data-language-local-name="Eastern Mari" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Олык марий</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uz mw-list-item"><a href="https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(o%CA%BBlchov_birligi)" title="Bit (oʻlchov birligi) – Uzbek" lang="uz" hreflang="uz" data-title="Bit (oʻlchov birligi)" data-language-autonym="Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча" data-language-local-name="Uzbek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pnb mw-list-item"><a href="https://pnb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%B9" title="بٹ – Western Punjabi" lang="pnb" hreflang="pnb" data-title="بٹ" data-language-autonym="پنجابی" data-language-local-name="Western Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>پنجابی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kaa mw-list-item"><a href="https://kaa.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Kara-Kalpak" lang="kaa" hreflang="kaa" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Qaraqalpaqsha" data-language-local-name="Kara-Kalpak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Qaraqalpaqsha</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Бит – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Бит" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sco mw-list-item"><a href="https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Scots" lang="sco" hreflang="sco" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Scots" data-language-local-name="Scots" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Scots</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sq mw-list-item"><a href="https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Albanian" lang="sq" hreflang="sq" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Shqip" data-language-local-name="Albanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Shqip</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-scn mw-list-item"><a href="https://scn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Sicilian" lang="scn" hreflang="scn" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Sicilianu" data-language-local-name="Sicilian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Sicilianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sd mw-list-item"><a href="https://sd.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%BB%D9%BD" title="ٻٽ – Sindhi" lang="sd" hreflang="sd" data-title="ٻٽ" data-language-autonym="سنڌي" data-language-local-name="Sindhi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>سنڌي</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk mw-list-item"><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D8%AA" title="بیت – Central Kurdish" lang="ckb" hreflang="ckb" data-title="بیت" data-language-autonym="کوردی" data-language-local-name="Central Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>کوردی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82_(%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%87%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE)" title="Бит (рачунарство) – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Бит (рачунарство)" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sh mw-list-item"><a href="https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(ra%C4%8Dunarstvo)" title="Bit (računarstvo) – Serbo-Croatian" lang="sh" hreflang="sh" data-title="Bit (računarstvo)" data-language-autonym="Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски" data-language-local-name="Serbo-Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitti" title="Bitti – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Bitti" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D" title="இருமம் – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="இருமம்" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>தமிழ்</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-te mw-list-item"><a href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%AC%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%9F%E0%B1%8D" title="బిట్ – Telugu" lang="te" hreflang="te" data-title="బిట్" data-language-autonym="తెలుగు" data-language-local-name="Telugu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>తెలుగు</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-th mw-list-item"><a href="https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%95" title="บิต – Thai" lang="th" hreflang="th" data-title="บิต" data-language-autonym="ไทย" data-language-local-name="Thai" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ไทย</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Бит – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Бит" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Тоҷикӣ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(bili%C5%9Fim)" title="Bit (bilişim) – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Bit (bilişim)" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%96%D1%82" title="Біт – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Біт" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ur mw-list-item"><a href="https://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%B9_(%DA%A9%D9%85%D9%BE%DB%8C%D9%88%D9%B9%D8%B1)" title="بٹ (کمپیوٹر) – Urdu" lang="ur" hreflang="ur" data-title="بٹ (کمپیوٹر)" data-language-autonym="اردو" data-language-local-name="Urdu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>اردو</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-war mw-list-item"><a href="https://war.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit" title="Bit – Waray" lang="war" hreflang="war" data-title="Bit" data-language-autonym="Winaray" data-language-local-name="Waray" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Winaray</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-wuu mw-list-item"><a href="https://wuu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9F%B2%EF%BC%88%E5%8D%95%E4%BD%8D%EF%BC%89" title="柲(单位) – Wu" lang="wuu" hreflang="wuu" data-title="柲(单位)" data-language-autonym="吴语" data-language-local-name="Wu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>吴语</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-yi mw-list-item"><a href="https://yi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%98" title="ביט – Yiddish" lang="yi" hreflang="yi" data-title="ביט" data-language-autonym="ייִדיש" data-language-local-name="Yiddish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ייִדיש</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BD%8D%E5%85%83" title="位元 – Cantonese" lang="yue" hreflang="yue" data-title="位元" data-language-autonym="粵語" data-language-local-name="Cantonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>粵語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BD%8D%E5%85%83" title="位元 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="位元" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q8805#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div 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<div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Unit of information</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">This article is about the unit of information. 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.sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks plainlist" style="width:auto"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-above" style="background:lavender; font-size:120%;"> <a href="/wiki/Unit_of_measurement" title="Unit of measurement">Units</a> of<br /><a href="/wiki/Units_of_information" title="Units of information">information</a></td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/Information_theory" title="Information theory">Information-theoretic</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Shannon_(unit)" title="Shannon (unit)">shannon</a> (<a href="/wiki/Binary_number" title="Binary number">base 2</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nat_(unit)" title="Nat (unit)">nat</a> (<a href="/wiki/Natural_logarithm" title="Natural logarithm">base e</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hartley_(unit)" title="Hartley (unit)">hartley</a> (<a href="/wiki/Decimal" title="Decimal">base 10</a>)</li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Data storage</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">bit</a> (<a href="/wiki/Binary_number" title="Binary number">binary</a>)</li> <li>trit (<a href="/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system" title="Ternary numeral system">ternary</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hartley_(unit)" title="Hartley (unit)">dit</a> (<a href="/wiki/Decimal" title="Decimal">decimal</a>)</li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/Quantum_information" title="Quantum information">Quantum information</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Qubit" title="Qubit">qubit</a> (binary)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Qutrit" title="Qutrit">qutrit</a> (ternary)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Qudit" class="mw-redirect" title="Qudit">qudit</a> (<i>d</i>-dimensional)</li></ul></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Fundamental_info_units" title="Template:Fundamental info units"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Fundamental_info_units" title="Template talk:Fundamental info units"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Fundamental_info_units" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Fundamental info units"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The <b>bit</b> is the most basic <a href="/wiki/Units_of_information" title="Units of information">unit of information</a> in <a href="/wiki/Computing" title="Computing">computing</a> and digital <a href="/wiki/Communication" title="Communication">communication</a>. The name is a <a href="/wiki/Portmanteau" class="mw-redirect" title="Portmanteau">portmanteau</a> of <b>binary digit</b>.<sup id="cite_ref-Mackenzie_1980_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Mackenzie_1980-1"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> The bit represents a <a href="/wiki/Truth_value" title="Truth value">logical state</a> with one of two possible <a href="/wiki/Value_(computer_science)" title="Value (computer science)">values</a>. These values are most commonly represented as either <span class="nowrap">"<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r886049734">.mw-parser-output .monospaced{font-family:monospace,monospace}</style><span class="monospaced">1</span>" or "<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r886049734" /><span class="monospaced">0</span>"</span>, but other representations such as <i>true</i>/<i>false</i>, <i>yes</i>/<i>no</i>, <i>on</i>/<i>off</i>, or <i>+</i>/<i>−</i> are also widely used. </p><p>The relation between these values and the physical states of the underlying <a href="/wiki/Data_storage_device" class="mw-redirect" title="Data storage device">storage</a> or <a href="/wiki/Computing_device" class="mw-redirect" title="Computing device">device</a> is a matter of convention, and different assignments may be used even within the same device or <a href="/wiki/Computer_program" title="Computer program">program</a>. It may be physically implemented with a two-state device. </p><p>A contiguous group of binary digits is commonly called a <i><a href="/wiki/Bit_string" class="mw-redirect" title="Bit string">bit string</a></i>, a bit vector, or a single-dimensional (or multi-dimensional) <i><a href="/wiki/Bit_array" title="Bit array">bit array</a></i>. A group of eight bits is called one&#160;<i><a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">byte</a></i>, but historically the size of the byte is not strictly defined.<sup id="cite_ref-Bemer_2000_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bemer_2000-2"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> Frequently, half, full, double and quadruple words consist of a number of bytes which is a low power of two. A string of four bits is usually a <i><a href="/wiki/Nibble" title="Nibble">nibble</a></i>. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Information_theory" title="Information theory">information theory</a>, one bit is the <a href="/wiki/Information_entropy" class="mw-redirect" title="Information entropy">information entropy</a> of a random <a href="/wiki/Binary_number" title="Binary number">binary</a> variable that is 0 or 1 with equal probability,<sup id="cite_ref-Anderson_2006_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Anderson_2006-3"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> or the information that is gained when the value of such a variable becomes known.<sup id="cite_ref-Haykin_2006_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Haykin_2006-4"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-IEEE_260_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-IEEE_260-5"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> As a <a href="/wiki/Unit_of_information" class="mw-redirect" title="Unit of information">unit of information</a> or <a href="/wiki/Negentropy" title="Negentropy">negentropy</a>, the bit is also known as a <i><a href="/wiki/Shannon_(unit)" title="Shannon (unit)">shannon</a></i>,<sup id="cite_ref-Rowlett_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Rowlett-6"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> named after <a href="/wiki/Claude_E._Shannon" class="mw-redirect" title="Claude E. Shannon">Claude E. Shannon</a>. As a measure of the length of a digital string that is encoded as symbols over a 0-1 (binary) alphabet, the bit has been called a binit,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> but this usage is now rare.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Data_compression" title="Data compression">data compression</a>, the goal is to find a shorter representation for a string, so that it requires fewer bits during storage or transmission — but it must be "compressed" before doing so, and then "decompressed" after. The field of <a href="/wiki/Algorithmic_Information_Theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Algorithmic Information Theory">Algorithmic Information Theory</a> is devoted to the study of the "irreducible information content" of a string (i.e. its shortest-possible representation length, in bits), under the assumption that the receiver has minimal <i>a priori</i> knowledge of the method used to compress the string. In <a href="/wiki/Error_detection_and_correction" title="Error detection and correction">error detection and correction</a>, the goal is to add redundant data to a string, to enable the detection and/or correction of errors during storage or transmission — but the redundant data has to be computed before doing so, and then "checked" or "corrected" after. </p><p>The symbol for the binary digit is either "bit", per the <a href="/wiki/IEC_80000-13" class="mw-redirect" title="IEC 80000-13">IEC 80000-13</a>:2008 standard, or the lowercase character "b", per the <a href="/wiki/IEEE_1541-2002" class="mw-redirect" title="IEEE 1541-2002">IEEE 1541-2002</a> standard. Use of the latter may create confusion with the capital "B" which is the international standard symbol for the byte. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=1" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Ralph_Hartley" title="Ralph Hartley">Ralph Hartley</a> suggested the use of a logarithmic measure of information in 1928.<sup id="cite_ref-Abramson_1963_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Abramson_1963-9"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Claude_E._Shannon" class="mw-redirect" title="Claude E. Shannon">Claude E. Shannon</a> first used the word "bit" in his seminal 1948 paper "<a href="/wiki/A_Mathematical_Theory_of_Communication" title="A Mathematical Theory of Communication">A Mathematical Theory of Communication</a>".<sup id="cite_ref-Shannon_1948_1_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Shannon_1948_1-10"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Shannon_1948_2_11-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Shannon_1948_2-11"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Shannon_1949_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Shannon_1949-12"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> He attributed its origin to <a href="/wiki/John_W._Tukey" class="mw-redirect" title="John W. Tukey">John W. Tukey</a>, who had written a Bell Labs memo on 9 January 1947 in which he contracted "binary information digit" to simply "bit".<sup id="cite_ref-Shannon_1948_1_10-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Shannon_1948_1-10"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Physical_representation">Physical representation <span class="anchor" id="Representation"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=2" title="Edit section: Physical representation"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>A bit can be stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in either of two possible distinct <a href="/wiki/State_(computer_science)" title="State (computer science)">states</a>. These may be the two stable states of a <a href="/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics)" title="Flip-flop (electronics)">flip-flop</a>, two positions of an <a href="/wiki/Switch" title="Switch">electrical switch</a>, two distinct <a href="/wiki/Voltage" title="Voltage">voltage</a> or <a href="/wiki/Electric_current" title="Electric current">current</a> levels allowed by a <a href="/wiki/Electrical_circuit" class="mw-redirect" title="Electrical circuit">circuit</a>, two distinct levels of <a href="/wiki/Irradiance" title="Irradiance">light intensity</a>, two directions of <a href="/wiki/Magnetism" title="Magnetism">magnetization</a> or <a href="/wiki/Electrical_polarity" class="mw-redirect" title="Electrical polarity">polarization</a>, the orientation of reversible double stranded <a href="/wiki/DNA" title="DNA">DNA</a>, etc. </p><p>Perhaps the earliest example of a binary storage device was the <a href="/wiki/Punched_card" title="Punched card">punched card</a> invented by <a href="/wiki/Basile_Bouchon" title="Basile Bouchon">Basile Bouchon</a> and Jean-Baptiste Falcon (1732), developed by <a href="/wiki/Joseph_Marie_Jacquard" title="Joseph Marie Jacquard">Joseph Marie Jacquard</a> (1804), and later adopted by <a href="/wiki/Semyon_Korsakov" title="Semyon Korsakov">Semyon Korsakov</a>, <a href="/wiki/Charles_Babbage" title="Charles Babbage">Charles Babbage</a>, <a href="/wiki/Herman_Hollerith" title="Herman Hollerith">Herman Hollerith</a>, and early computer manufacturers like <a href="/wiki/IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a>. A variant of that idea was the perforated <a href="/wiki/Paper_tape" class="mw-redirect" title="Paper tape">paper tape</a>. In all those systems, the medium (card or tape) conceptually carried an array of hole positions; each position could be either punched through or not, thus carrying one&#160;bit of information. The encoding of text by bits was also used in <a href="/wiki/Morse_code" title="Morse code">Morse code</a> (1844) and early digital communications machines such as <a href="/wiki/Teleprinter" title="Teleprinter">teletypes</a> and <a href="/wiki/Stock_ticker_machine" class="mw-redirect" title="Stock ticker machine">stock ticker machines</a> (1870). </p><p>The first electrical devices for discrete logic (such as <a href="/wiki/Elevator" title="Elevator">elevator</a> and <a href="/wiki/Traffic_light" title="Traffic light">traffic light</a> control <a href="/wiki/Electronic_circuit" title="Electronic circuit">circuits</a>, <a href="/wiki/Telephone_switches" class="mw-redirect" title="Telephone switches">telephone switches</a>, and Konrad Zuse's computer) represented bits as the states of <a href="/wiki/Electrical_relay" class="mw-redirect" title="Electrical relay">electrical relays</a> which could be either "open" or "closed". When relays were replaced by <a href="/wiki/Vacuum_tube" title="Vacuum tube">vacuum tubes</a>, starting in the 1940s, computer builders experimented with a variety of storage methods, such as pressure pulses traveling down a <a href="/wiki/Mercury_delay_line" class="mw-redirect" title="Mercury delay line">mercury delay line</a>, charges stored on the inside surface of a <a href="/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube" title="Cathode-ray tube">cathode-ray tube</a>, or opaque spots printed on <a href="/wiki/Optical_disc" title="Optical disc">glass discs</a> by <a href="/wiki/Photolithographic" class="mw-redirect" title="Photolithographic">photolithographic</a> techniques. </p><p>In the 1950s and 1960s, these methods were largely supplanted by <a href="/wiki/Magnetic_storage" title="Magnetic storage">magnetic storage</a> devices such as <a href="/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory" title="Magnetic-core memory">magnetic-core memory</a>, <a href="/wiki/Magnetic_tape" title="Magnetic tape">magnetic tapes</a>, <a href="/wiki/Magnetic_drum" class="mw-redirect" title="Magnetic drum">drums</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Disk_storage" title="Disk storage">disks</a>, where a bit was represented by the polarity of <a href="/wiki/Magnetism" title="Magnetism">magnetization</a> of a certain area of a <a href="/wiki/Ferromagnetic" class="mw-redirect" title="Ferromagnetic">ferromagnetic</a> film, or by a change in polarity from one direction to the other. The same principle was later used in the <a href="/wiki/Magnetic_bubble_memory" class="mw-redirect" title="Magnetic bubble memory">magnetic bubble memory</a> developed in the 1980s, and is still found in various <a href="/wiki/Magnetic_strip" class="mw-redirect" title="Magnetic strip">magnetic strip</a> items such as <a href="/wiki/Rapid_transit" title="Rapid transit">metro</a> tickets and some <a href="/wiki/Credit_card" title="Credit card">credit cards</a>. </p><p>In modern <a href="/wiki/Semiconductor_memory" title="Semiconductor memory">semiconductor memory</a>, such as <a href="/wiki/Dynamic_random-access_memory" title="Dynamic random-access memory">dynamic random-access memory</a> or a <a href="/wiki/Solid-state_drive" title="Solid-state drive">solid-state drive</a>, the two values of a bit are represented by two levels of <a href="/wiki/Electric_charge" title="Electric charge">electric charge</a> stored in a <a href="/wiki/Capacitor" title="Capacitor">capacitor</a> or a <a href="/wiki/Floating-gate_MOSFET" title="Floating-gate MOSFET">floating-gate MOSFET</a>. In certain types of <a href="/wiki/Programmable_logic_array" title="Programmable logic array">programmable logic arrays</a> and <a href="/wiki/Read-only_memory" title="Read-only memory">read-only memory</a>, a bit may be represented by the presence or absence of a conducting path at a certain point of a circuit. In <a href="/wiki/Optical_disc" title="Optical disc">optical discs</a>, a bit is encoded as the presence or absence of a <a href="/wiki/Microscopic" class="mw-redirect" title="Microscopic">microscopic</a> pit on a reflective surface. In one-dimensional <a href="/wiki/Bar_code" class="mw-redirect" title="Bar code">bar codes</a> and two-dimensional <a href="/wiki/QR_codes" class="mw-redirect" title="QR codes">QR codes</a>, bits are encoded as lines or squares which may be either black or white. </p><p>In modern digital computing, bits are transformed in Boolean <a href="/wiki/Logic_gate" title="Logic gate">logic gates</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Transmission_and_processing">Transmission and processing</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=3" title="Edit section: Transmission and processing"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Bits are transmitted one at a time in <a href="/wiki/Serial_transmission" class="mw-redirect" title="Serial transmission">serial transmission</a>. By contrast, multiple bits are transmitted simultaneously in a <a href="/wiki/Parallel_transmission" class="mw-redirect" title="Parallel transmission">parallel transmission</a>. A <a href="/wiki/Serial_computer" title="Serial computer">serial computer</a> processes information in either a bit-serial or a byte-serial fashion. From the standpoint of data communications, a byte-serial transmission is an 8-way parallel transmission with binary signalling. </p><p>In programming languages such as <a href="/wiki/C_(programming_language)" title="C (programming language)">C</a>, a <a href="/wiki/Bitwise_operation" title="Bitwise operation">bitwise operation</a> operates on binary strings as though they are vectors of bits, rather than interpreting them as <a href="/wiki/Binary_number" title="Binary number">binary numbers</a>. </p><p>Data transfer rates are usually measured in decimal SI multiples. For example, a <a href="/wiki/Channel_capacity" title="Channel capacity">channel capacity</a> may be specified as 8 kbit/s = 8 kb/s = 1 kB/s. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Storage">Storage</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=4" title="Edit section: Storage"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>File sizes are often measured in (binary) IEC multiples of bytes, for example 1 KiB = 1024 bytes = 8192 bits. Confusion may arise in cases where (for historic reasons) filesizes are specified with binary multipliers using the ambiguous prefixes K, M, and G rather than the IEC standard prefixes Ki, Mi, and Gi.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> </p><p>Mass storage devices are usually measured in decimal SI multiples, for example 1 TB = <span class="mwe-math-element"><span class="mwe-math-mathml-inline mwe-math-mathml-a11y" style="display: none;"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="{\displaystyle 10^{12}}"> <semantics> <mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mstyle displaystyle="true" scriptlevel="0"> <msup> <mn>10</mn> <mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mn>12</mn> </mrow> </msup> </mstyle> </mrow> <annotation encoding="application/x-tex">{\displaystyle 10^{12}}</annotation> </semantics> </math></span><img src="https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/9c90fc8874dafeb075a01985c74c1d31f51e7c3b" class="mwe-math-fallback-image-inline mw-invert skin-invert" aria-hidden="true" style="vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:4.201ex; height:2.676ex;" alt="{\displaystyle 10^{12}}" /></span> bytes. </p><p>Confusingly, the storage capacity of a directly-addressable memory device, such as a <a href="/wiki/Dynamic_Random_Access_Memory" class="mw-redirect" title="Dynamic Random Access Memory">DRAM</a> chip, or an assemblage of such chips on a memory module, is specified as a binary multiple -- using the ambiguous prefix G rather than the IEC recommended Gi prefix. For example, a DRAM chip that is specified (and advertised) as having "1 GB" of capacity has <span class="mwe-math-element"><span class="mwe-math-mathml-inline mwe-math-mathml-a11y" style="display: none;"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="{\displaystyle 2^{30}}"> <semantics> <mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mstyle displaystyle="true" scriptlevel="0"> <msup> <mn>2</mn> <mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mn>30</mn> </mrow> </msup> </mstyle> </mrow> <annotation encoding="application/x-tex">{\displaystyle 2^{30}}</annotation> </semantics> </math></span><img src="https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/5622f7069cf5752b48b3c772677b2d6a0f3736df" class="mwe-math-fallback-image-inline mw-invert skin-invert" aria-hidden="true" style="vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:3.039ex; height:2.676ex;" alt="{\displaystyle 2^{30}}" /></span> bytes of capacity. As at 2022, the difference between the popular understanding of a memory system with "8 GB" of capacity, and the SI-correct meaning of "8 GB" was still causing difficulty to software designers.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Unit_and_symbol">Unit and symbol</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=5" title="Edit section: Unit and symbol"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The bit is not defined in the <a href="/wiki/International_System_of_Units" title="International System of Units">International System of Units</a> (SI). However, the <a href="/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commission" title="International Electrotechnical Commission">International Electrotechnical Commission</a> issued standard <a href="/wiki/IEC_60027" title="IEC 60027">IEC 60027</a>, which specifies that the symbol for binary digit should be 'bit', and this should be used in all multiples, such as 'kbit', for kilobit.<sup id="cite_ref-NIST_2008_15-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-NIST_2008-15"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> However, the lower-case letter 'b' is widely used as well and was recommended by the <a href="/wiki/IEEE_1541-2002" class="mw-redirect" title="IEEE 1541-2002">IEEE 1541 Standard (2002)</a>. In contrast, the upper case letter 'B' is the standard and customary symbol for byte. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Multiple_bits">Multiple bits</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=6" title="Edit section: Multiple bits"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951" /><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">"MBit" redirects here. For the technical high school, see <a href="/wiki/MBIT" class="mw-redirect" title="MBIT">MBIT</a>.</div> <table style="text-align: left; float:right; clear:right; margin-left:1em; border:1px #aaa solid; font-size:88%;"> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="2" style="background-color:#ccf;padding-left:3em;padding-right:1em;text-align:center;"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1045256916">.mw-parser-output .navbar-header{text-align:center;position:relative;white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .navbar-header .navbar{position:absolute;right:0;top:0;margin:0 5px}</style><div class="navbar-header"><span style="font-size:120%;"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Multiple-bit units</a></span><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Quantities_of_bits" title="Template:Quantities of bits"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Quantities_of_bits" title="Template talk:Quantities of bits"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Quantities_of_bits" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Quantities of bits"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></div> </th></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:0"> <table style="border:1px #AAA solid"> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="4" style="background-color:#ccf;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Decimal" title="Decimal">Decimal</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th style="background-color:#ddf;text-align:center;padding:0">Value </th> <th colspan="2" style="background-color:#ddf;text-align:center;padding:0"><a href="/wiki/Metric_prefix" title="Metric prefix">Metric</a> </th></tr> <tr> <td>1000 </td> <td>kbit</td> <td>kilobit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>2</sup> </td> <td>Mbit</td> <td>megabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>3</sup> </td> <td>Gbit</td> <td>gigabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>4</sup> </td> <td>Tbit</td> <td>terabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>5</sup> </td> <td>Pbit</td> <td>petabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>6</sup> </td> <td>Ebit</td> <td>exabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>7</sup> </td> <td>Zbit</td> <td>zettabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>8</sup> </td> <td>Ybit</td> <td>yottabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>9</sup> </td> <td>Rbit</td> <td>ronnabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1000<sup>10</sup> </td> <td>Qbit</td> <td>quettabit </td></tr></tbody></table> </td> <td> <table style="border:1px #AAA solid"> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="6" style="background-color:#ccf;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Binary_prefix" title="Binary prefix">Binary</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th style="background-color:#ddf;padding:0; text-align: center">Value </th> <th colspan="2" style="background-color:#ddf;text-align:center;padding:0"><a href="/wiki/IEC_80000-13" class="mw-redirect" title="IEC 80000-13">IEC</a> </th> <th colspan="3" style="background-color:#ddf;text-align:center;padding:0"><a href="/wiki/JEDEC_memory_standards#Unit_prefixes_for_semiconductor_storage_capacity" title="JEDEC memory standards"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319">'"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000027-QINU`"'</style><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="Size of directly addressable memory is historically denoted with Kbit, Mbit, etc., to mean binary multiples.">Memory</span></a> </th></tr> <tr> <td>1024 </td> <td>Kibit</td> <td>kibibit </td> <td>Kbit</td> <td>Kb</td> <td>kilobit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>2</sup> </td> <td>Mibit</td> <td>mebibit </td> <td>Mbit</td> <td>Mb</td> <td>megabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>3</sup> </td> <td>Gibit</td> <td>gibibit </td> <td>Gbit</td> <td>Gb</td> <td>gigabit </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>4</sup> </td> <td>Tibit</td> <td>tebibit </td> <td colspan="3" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>5</sup> </td> <td>Pibit</td> <td>pebibit </td> <td colspan="3" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>6</sup> </td> <td>Eibit</td> <td>exbibit </td> <td colspan="3" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>7</sup> </td> <td>Zibit</td> <td>zebibit </td> <td colspan="3" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>8</sup> </td> <td>Yibit</td> <td>yobibit </td> <td colspan="3" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>9</sup> </td> <td>Ribit</td> <td>robibit </td> <td colspan="3" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr> <tr> <td>1024<sup>10</sup> </td> <td>Qibit</td> <td>quebibit </td> <td colspan="6" style="text-align:center;">&#8212; </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="6" style="background-color:#ddf;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(data)" title="Orders of magnitude (data)">Orders of magnitude of data</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Multiple bits may be expressed and represented in several ways. For convenience of representing commonly reoccurring groups of bits in information technology, several <a href="/wiki/Units_of_information" title="Units of information">units of information</a> have traditionally been used. The most common is the unit <a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">byte</a>, coined by <a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">Werner Buchholz</a> in June 1956, which historically was used to represent the group of bits used to encode a single <a href="/wiki/Character_(computing)" title="Character (computing)">character</a> of text (until <a href="/wiki/UTF-8" title="UTF-8">UTF-8</a> multibyte encoding took over) in a computer<sup id="cite_ref-Bemer_2000_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bemer_2000-2"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Buchholz_1956_16-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Buchholz_1956-16"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Buchholz_1977_17-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Buchholz_1977-17"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Buchholz_1962_18-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Buchholz_1962-18"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Bemer_1959_19-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bemer_1959-19"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> and for this reason it was used as the basic <a href="/wiki/Address_space" title="Address space">addressable</a> element in many <a href="/wiki/Computer_architecture" title="Computer architecture">computer architectures</a>. By 1993, the trend in hardware design had converged on the 8-bit <a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">byte</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">&#91;</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">&#93;</span></a></sup> However, because of the ambiguity of relying on the underlying hardware design, the unit <a href="/wiki/Octet_(computing)" title="Octet (computing)">octet</a> was defined to explicitly denote a sequence of eight&#160;bits. </p><p>Computers usually manipulate bits in groups of a fixed size, conventionally named "<a href="/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)" title="Word (computer architecture)">words</a>". Like the byte, the number of bits in a word also varies with the hardware design, and is typically between 8 and 80&#160;bits, or even more in some specialized computers. In the early 21st century, retail personal or server computers have a word size of 32 or 64&#160;bits. </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/International_System_of_Units" title="International System of Units">International System of Units</a> defines a series of decimal prefixes for multiples of standardized units which are commonly also used with the bit and the byte. The prefixes <a href="/wiki/Kilo-" title="Kilo-">kilo</a> (10<sup>3</sup>) through <a href="/wiki/Yotta-" class="mw-redirect" title="Yotta-">yotta</a> (10<sup>24</sup>) increment by multiples of one thousand, and the corresponding units are the <a href="/wiki/Kilobit" class="mw-redirect" title="Kilobit">kilobit</a> (kbit) through the <a href="/wiki/Yottabit" class="mw-redirect" title="Yottabit">yottabit</a> (Ybit). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=7" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Baud" title="Baud">Baud</a>&#160;– Symbol rate measurement in telecommunications</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Binary_numeral_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Binary numeral system">Binary numeral system</a>&#160;– Number expressed in the base-2 numeral system<span style="display:none" class="category-annotation-with-redirected-description">Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets</span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bit_rate" title="Bit rate">Bit rate</a>&#160;– Information transmission rate expressed in bits per second</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bitstream" title="Bitstream">Bitstream</a>&#160;– Sequence of binary digits</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Entropy_(information_theory)" title="Entropy (information theory)">Entropy (information theory)</a>&#160;– Expected amount of information needed to specify the output of a stochastic data source</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fuzzy_bit" title="Fuzzy bit">Fuzzy bit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Integer_(computer_science)" title="Integer (computer science)">Integer (computer science)</a>&#160;– Datum of integral data type</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Primitive_data_type" title="Primitive data type">Primitive data type</a>&#160;– An extremely basic/core data type provided by a programming language</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Qubit" title="Qubit">Qubit</a>&#160;– Basic unit of quantum information (quantum bit)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shannon_(unit)" title="Shannon (unit)">Shannon (unit)</a>&#160;– Unit of information</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system" title="Ternary numeral system">Ternary numeral system</a>&#160;– Base-3 numeral system</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trit_(computing)" class="mw-redirect" title="Trit (computing)">Trit (computing)</a>&#160;– Base-3 numeral system<span style="display:none" class="category-annotation-with-redirected-description">Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets</span> (Trinary digit)</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=8" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-Mackenzie_1980-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Mackenzie_1980_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFMackenzie1980" class="citation book cs1">Mackenzie, Charles E. (1980). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://textfiles.meulie.net/bitsaved/Books/Mackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf"><i>Coded Character Sets, History and Development</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. The Systems Programming Series (1&#160;ed.). <a href="/wiki/Addison-Wesley_Publishing_Company,_Inc." class="mw-redirect" title="Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.">Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.</a> p.&#160;x. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a>&#160;<a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-201-14460-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-201-14460-4"><bdi>978-0-201-14460-4</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/LCCN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="LCCN (identifier)">LCCN</a>&#160;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lccn.loc.gov/77-90165">77-90165</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160526172151/https://textfiles.meulie.net/bitsaved/Books/Mackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on May 26, 2016<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">August 25,</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Coded+Character+Sets%2C+History+and+Development&amp;rft.series=The+Systems+Programming+Series&amp;rft.pages=x&amp;rft.edition=1&amp;rft.pub=Addison-Wesley+Publishing+Company%2C+Inc.&amp;rft.date=1980&amp;rft_id=info%3Alccn%2F77-90165&amp;rft.isbn=978-0-201-14460-4&amp;rft.aulast=Mackenzie&amp;rft.aufirst=Charles+E.&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Ftextfiles.meulie.net%2Fbitsaved%2FBooks%2FMackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Bemer_2000-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Bemer_2000_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Bemer_2000_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBemer2000" class="citation web cs1"><a href="/wiki/Robert_William_Bemer" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert William Bemer">Bemer, Robert William</a> (2000-08-08). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170403130829/http://www.bobbemer.com/BYTE.HTM">"Why is a byte 8 bits? Or is it?"</a>. <i>Computer History Vignettes</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bobbemer.com/BYTE.HTM">the original</a> on 2017-04-03<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-04-03</span></span>. <q>[…] With <a href="/wiki/IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a>'s <a href="/wiki/IBM_STRETCH" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM STRETCH">STRETCH</a> computer as background, handling 64-character words divisible into groups of 8 (I designed the character set for it, under the guidance of Dr. <a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">Werner Buchholz</a>, the man who DID coin the term "<a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">byte</a>" for an 8-bit grouping). […] The <a href="/wiki/IBM_System_360" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM System 360">IBM 360</a> used 8-bit characters, although not ASCII directly. Thus Buchholz's "byte" caught on everywhere. I myself did not like the name for many reasons. […]</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.jtitle=Computer+History+Vignettes&amp;rft.atitle=Why+is+a+byte+8+bits%3F+Or+is+it%3F&amp;rft.date=2000-08-08&amp;rft.aulast=Bemer&amp;rft.aufirst=Robert+William&amp;rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bobbemer.com%2FBYTE.HTM&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Anderson_2006-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Anderson_2006_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFAndersonJohnnesson2006" class="citation cs2">Anderson, John B.; Johnnesson, Rolf (2006), <i>Understanding Information Transmission</i></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Understanding+Information+Transmission&amp;rft.date=2006&amp;rft.aulast=Anderson&amp;rft.aufirst=John+B.&amp;rft.au=Johnnesson%2C+Rolf&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Haykin_2006-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Haykin_2006_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFHaykin2006" class="citation cs2">Haykin, Simon (2006), <i>Digital Communications</i></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Digital+Communications&amp;rft.date=2006&amp;rft.aulast=Haykin&amp;rft.aufirst=Simon&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-IEEE_260-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-IEEE_260_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/IEEE_Std_260.1-2004" title="IEEE Std 260.1-2004">IEEE Std 260.1-2004</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Rowlett-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Rowlett_6-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictB.html#bit">"Units: B"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160504055432/http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictB.html#bit">Archived</a> from the original on 2016-05-04.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.btitle=Units%3A+B&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unc.edu%2F~rowlett%2Funits%2FdictB.html%23bit&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBreipohl1963" class="citation book cs1">Breipohl, Arthur M. (1963-08-18). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ece_etds/425/"><i>Adaptive Communication Systems</i></a>. University of New Mexico. p.&#160;7<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2025-01-07</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Adaptive+Communication+Systems&amp;rft.pages=7&amp;rft.pub=University+of+New+Mexico&amp;rft.date=1963-08-18&amp;rft.aulast=Breipohl&amp;rft.aufirst=Arthur+M.&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalrepository.unm.edu%2Fece_etds%2F425%2F&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/binit">"binit"</a>. <i>The Free Dictionary</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2025-01-07</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.jtitle=The+Free+Dictionary&amp;rft.atitle=binit&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefreedictionary.com%2Fbinit&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Abramson_1963-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Abramson_1963_9-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFAbramson1963" class="citation book cs1">Abramson, Norman (1963). <i>Information theory and coding</i>. <a href="/wiki/McGraw-Hill" class="mw-redirect" title="McGraw-Hill">McGraw-Hill</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=Information+theory+and+coding&amp;rft.pub=McGraw-Hill&amp;rft.date=1963&amp;rft.aulast=Abramson&amp;rft.aufirst=Norman&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Shannon_1948_1-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Shannon_1948_1_10-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Shannon_1948_1_10-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFShannon1948" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/wiki/Claude_Elwood_Shannon" class="mw-redirect" title="Claude Elwood Shannon">Shannon, Claude Elwood</a> (July 1948). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/19980715013250/http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf">"A Mathematical Theory of Communication"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i><a href="/wiki/Bell_System_Technical_Journal" class="mw-redirect" title="Bell System Technical Journal">Bell System Technical Journal</a></i>. <b>27</b> (3): <span class="nowrap">379–</span>423. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fj.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x">10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x</a>. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hdl (identifier)">hdl</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hdl.handle.net/11858%2F00-001M-0000-002C-4314-2">11858/00-001M-0000-002C-4314-2</a></span>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 1998-07-15 &#8211; via Bell Labs Computing and Mathematical Sciences Research. <q>The choice of a logarithmic base corresponds to the choice of a unit for measuring information. If the base 2 is used the resulting units may be called binary digits, or more briefly <i>bits</i>, a word suggested by <a href="/wiki/John_Wilder_Tukey" class="mw-redirect" title="John Wilder Tukey">J. W. Tukey</a>.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.jtitle=Bell+System+Technical+Journal&amp;rft.atitle=A+Mathematical+Theory+of+Communication&amp;rft.volume=27&amp;rft.issue=3&amp;rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E379-%3C%2Fspan%3E423&amp;rft.date=1948-07&amp;rft_id=info%3Ahdl%2F11858%2F00-001M-0000-002C-4314-2&amp;rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1002%2Fj.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x&amp;rft.aulast=Shannon&amp;rft.aufirst=Claude+Elwood&amp;rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fcm.bell-labs.com%2Fcm%2Fms%2Fwhat%2Fshannonday%2Fshannon1948.pdf&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Shannon_1948_2-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Shannon_1948_2_11-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFShannon1948" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/wiki/Claude_Elwood_Shannon" class="mw-redirect" title="Claude Elwood Shannon">Shannon, Claude Elwood</a> (October 1948). "A Mathematical Theory of Communication". <i><a href="/wiki/Bell_System_Technical_Journal" class="mw-redirect" title="Bell System Technical Journal">Bell System Technical Journal</a></i>. <b>27</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">623–</span>666. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fj.1538-7305.1948.tb00917.x">10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb00917.x</a>. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hdl (identifier)">hdl</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hdl.handle.net/11858%2F00-001M-0000-002C-4314-2">11858/00-001M-0000-002C-4314-2</a></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.jtitle=Bell+System+Technical+Journal&amp;rft.atitle=A+Mathematical+Theory+of+Communication&amp;rft.volume=27&amp;rft.issue=4&amp;rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E623-%3C%2Fspan%3E666&amp;rft.date=1948-10&amp;rft_id=info%3Ahdl%2F11858%2F00-001M-0000-002C-4314-2&amp;rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1002%2Fj.1538-7305.1948.tb00917.x&amp;rft.aulast=Shannon&amp;rft.aufirst=Claude+Elwood&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Shannon_1949-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Shannon_1949_12-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFShannonWeaver1949" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Claude_Elwood_Shannon" class="mw-redirect" title="Claude Elwood Shannon">Shannon, Claude Elwood</a>; <a href="/wiki/Warren_Weaver" title="Warren Weaver">Weaver, Warren</a> (1949). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/19980715013250/http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf"><i>A Mathematical Theory of Communication</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <a href="/wiki/University_of_Illinois_Press" title="University of Illinois Press">University of Illinois Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a>&#160;<a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-252-72548-4" title="Special:BookSources/0-252-72548-4"><bdi>0-252-72548-4</bdi></a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 1998-07-15 &#8211; via Bell Labs Computing and Mathematical Sciences Research.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=book&amp;rft.btitle=A+Mathematical+Theory+of+Communication&amp;rft.pub=University+of+Illinois+Press&amp;rft.date=1949&amp;rft.isbn=0-252-72548-4&amp;rft.aulast=Shannon&amp;rft.aufirst=Claude+Elwood&amp;rft.au=Weaver%2C+Warren&amp;rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fcm.bell-labs.com%2Fcm%2Fms%2Fwhat%2Fshannonday%2Fshannon1948.pdf&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnitsPolicy">"UnitsPolicy - Ubuntu Wiki"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2025-01-07</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.btitle=UnitsPolicy+-+Ubuntu+Wiki&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwiki.ubuntu.com%2FUnitsPolicy&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/8437">"Use MB/GB/TB suffix for VM memory input"</a>. <i>Github Netbox Community</i>. 2022<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2025-01-08</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.jtitle=Github+Netbox+Community&amp;rft.atitle=Use+MB%2FGB%2FTB+suffix+for+VM+memory+input&amp;rft.date=2022&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetbox-community%2Fnetbox%2Fissues%2F8437&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-NIST_2008-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-NIST_2008_15-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">National Institute of Standards and Technology (2008), <i>Guide for the Use of the International System of Units</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf">Online version.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160603203340/http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf">Archived</a> 3 June 2016 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Buchholz_1956-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Buchholz_1956_16-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBuchholz1956" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">Buchholz, Werner</a> (1956-06-11). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/Stretch/pdfs/06-07/102632284.pdf">"7. The Shift Matrix"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>The Link System</i>. <a href="/wiki/IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a>. pp.&#160;<span class="nowrap">5–</span>6. <a href="/wiki/IBM_Stretch" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM Stretch">Stretch</a> Memo No. 39G. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170404152534/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/Stretch/pdfs/06-07/102632284.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 2017-04-04<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2016-04-04</span></span>. <q>[…] Most important, from the point of view of editing, will be the ability to handle any characters or digits, from 1 to 6 bits long […] the Shift Matrix to be used to convert a 60-bit <a href="/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)" title="Word (computer architecture)">word</a>, coming from Memory in parallel, into <a href="/wiki/Character_(computing)" title="Character (computing)">characters</a>, or "<a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">bytes</a>" as we have called them, to be sent to the <a href="/wiki/Serial_adder" class="mw-redirect" title="Serial adder">Adder</a> serially. The 60 bits are dumped into <a href="/wiki/Magnetic_core" title="Magnetic core">magnetic cores</a> on six different levels. Thus, if a 1 comes out of position 9, it appears in all six cores underneath. […] The Adder may accept all or only some of the bits. […] Assume that it is desired to operate on 4 bit <a href="/wiki/Decimal_digit" class="mw-redirect" title="Decimal digit">decimal digits</a>, starting at the right. The 0-diagonal is pulsed first, sending out the six bits 0 to 5, of which the Adder accepts only the first four (0-3). Bits 4 and 5 are ignored. Next, the 4 diagonal is pulsed. This sends out bits 4 to 9, of which the last two are again ignored, and so on. […] It is just as easy to use all six bits in <a href="/wiki/Alphanumeric" class="mw-redirect" title="Alphanumeric">alphanumeric</a> work, or to handle bytes of only one bit for logical analysis, or to offset the bytes by any number of bits. […]</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=bookitem&amp;rft.atitle=7.+The+Shift+Matrix&amp;rft.btitle=The+Link+System&amp;rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E5-%3C%2Fspan%3E6&amp;rft.pub=IBM&amp;rft.date=1956-06-11&amp;rft.aulast=Buchholz&amp;rft.aufirst=Werner&amp;rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.computerhistory.org%2Fresources%2Ftext%2FIBM%2FStretch%2Fpdfs%2F06-07%2F102632284.pdf&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Buchholz_1977-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Buchholz_1977_17-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBuchholz1977" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">Buchholz, Werner</a> (February 1977). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1977-02/1977_02_BYTE_02-02_Usable_Systems#page/n145/mode/2up">"The Word "Byte" Comes of Age..."</a> <i><a href="/wiki/Byte_Magazine" class="mw-redirect" title="Byte Magazine">Byte Magazine</a></i>. <b>2</b> (2): 144. <q>[…] The first reference found in the files was contained in an internal memo written in June 1956 during the early days of developing <a href="/wiki/IBM_Stretch" class="mw-redirect" title="IBM Stretch">Stretch</a>. A <a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">byte</a> was described as consisting of any number of parallel bits from one to six. Thus a byte was assumed to have a length appropriate for the occasion. Its first use was in the context of the input-output equipment of the 1950s, which handled six bits at a time. The possibility of going to 8 bit bytes was considered in August 1956 and incorporated in the design of Stretch shortly thereafter. The first published reference to the term occurred in 1959 in a paper "Processing Data in Bits and Pieces" by <a href="/wiki/Gerrit_Anne_Blaauw" class="mw-redirect" title="Gerrit Anne Blaauw">G&#160;A&#160;Blaauw</a>, <a href="/wiki/Frederick_Phillips_Brooks,_Jr." class="mw-redirect" title="Frederick Phillips Brooks, Jr.">F&#160;P&#160;Brooks&#160;Jr</a> and <a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">W&#160;Buchholz</a> in the <i><a href="/wiki/IRE_Transactions_on_Electronic_Computers" class="mw-redirect" title="IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers">IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers</a></i>, June 1959, page 121. The notions of that paper were elaborated in Chapter 4 of <i><a href="#Buchholz-1962">Planning a Computer System (Project Stretch)</a></i>, edited by W&#160;Buchholz, <a href="/wiki/McGraw-Hill_Book_Company" class="mw-redirect" title="McGraw-Hill Book Company">McGraw-Hill Book Company</a> (1962). The rationale for coining the term was explained there on page 40 as follows:<br />Byte <i>denotes a group of bits used to encode a character, or the number of bits transmitted in parallel to and from input-output units. A term other than </i>character<i> is used here because a given character may be represented in different applications by more than one code, and different codes may use different numbers of bits (ie, different byte sizes). In input-output transmission the grouping of bits may be completely arbitrary and have no relation to actual characters. (The term is coined from </i><a href="/wiki/Bite" class="mw-redirect" title="Bite">bite</a><i>, but respelled to avoid accidental mutation to </i>bit<i>.)</i><br /><a href="/wiki/System/360" class="mw-redirect" title="System/360">System/360</a> took over many of the Stretch concepts, including the basic byte and word sizes, which are powers of 2. For economy, however, the byte size was fixed at the 8 bit maximum, and addressing at the bit level was replaced by byte addressing. […]</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.jtitle=Byte+Magazine&amp;rft.atitle=The+Word+%22Byte%22+Comes+of+Age...&amp;rft.volume=2&amp;rft.issue=2&amp;rft.pages=144&amp;rft.date=1977-02&amp;rft.aulast=Buchholz&amp;rft.aufirst=Werner&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fstream%2Fbyte-magazine-1977-02%2F1977_02_BYTE_02-02_Usable_Systems%23page%2Fn145%2Fmode%2F2up&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Buchholz_1962-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Buchholz_1962_18-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><span class="anchor" id="Buchholz-1962"></span><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBlaauwBrooks,_Jr.Buchholz1962" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Gerrit_Anne_Blaauw" class="mw-redirect" title="Gerrit Anne Blaauw">Blaauw, Gerrit Anne</a>; <a href="/wiki/Frederick_Phillips_Brooks,_Jr." class="mw-redirect" title="Frederick Phillips Brooks, Jr.">Brooks, Jr., Frederick Phillips</a>; <a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">Buchholz, Werner</a> (1962), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170403014651/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/Stretch/pdfs/Buchholz_102636426.pdf">"Chapter 4: Natural Data Units"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>, in <a href="/wiki/Werner_Buchholz" title="Werner Buchholz">Buchholz, Werner</a> (ed.), <i>Planning a Computer System – Project Stretch</i>, <a href="/wiki/McGraw-Hill_Book_Company,_Inc." class="mw-redirect" title="McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.">McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.</a> / The Maple Press Company, York, PA., pp.&#160;<span class="nowrap">39–</span>40, <a href="/wiki/LCCN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="LCCN (identifier)">LCCN</a>&#160;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lccn.loc.gov/61-10466">61-10466</a>, archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/Stretch/pdfs/Buchholz_102636426.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 2017-04-03<span class="reference-accessdate">, retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-04-03</span></span></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=bookitem&amp;rft.atitle=Chapter+4%3A+Natural+Data+Units&amp;rft.btitle=Planning+a+Computer+System+%E2%80%93+Project+Stretch&amp;rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E39-%3C%2Fspan%3E40&amp;rft.pub=McGraw-Hill+Book+Company%2C+Inc.+%2F+The+Maple+Press+Company%2C+York%2C+PA.&amp;rft.date=1962&amp;rft_id=info%3Alccn%2F61-10466&amp;rft.aulast=Blaauw&amp;rft.aufirst=Gerrit+Anne&amp;rft.au=Brooks%2C+Jr.%2C+Frederick+Phillips&amp;rft.au=Buchholz%2C+Werner&amp;rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.computerhistory.org%2Fresources%2Ftext%2FIBM%2FStretch%2Fpdfs%2FBuchholz_102636426.pdf&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Bemer_1959-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Bemer_1959_19-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBemer1959" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/wiki/Robert_William_Bemer" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert William Bemer">Bemer, Robert William</a> (1959). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1145%2F368424.368435">"A proposal for a generalized card code of 256 characters"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Communications_of_the_ACM" title="Communications of the ACM">Communications of the ACM</a></i>. <b>2</b> (9): <span class="nowrap">19–</span>23. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1145%2F368424.368435">10.1145/368424.368435</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a>&#160;<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:36115735">36115735</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.jtitle=Communications+of+the+ACM&amp;rft.atitle=A+proposal+for+a+generalized+card+code+of+256+characters&amp;rft.volume=2&amp;rft.issue=9&amp;rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E19-%3C%2Fspan%3E23&amp;rft.date=1959&amp;rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1145%2F368424.368435&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A36115735%23id-name%3DS2CID&amp;rft.aulast=Bemer&amp;rft.aufirst=Robert+William&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1145%252F368424.368435&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:2382:-1:ed-3:v1:en">"ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993(en) Information technology — Vocabulary — Part 1: Fundamental terms"</a>. p.&#160;01.02.09<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2025-01-08</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.btitle=ISO%2FIEC+2382-1%3A1993%28en%29+Information+technology+%E2%80%94+Vocabulary+%E2%80%94+Part+1%3A+Fundamental+terms&amp;rft.pages=01.02.09&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iso.org%2Fobp%2Fui%2F%23iso%3Astd%3Aiso-iec%3A2382%3A-1%3Aed-3%3Av1%3Aen&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ABit" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Bit&amp;action=edit&amp;section=9" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid 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screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409" /> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/60px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/80px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="512" /></a></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">Look up <i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/bit" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:Special:Search/bit">bit</a></b></i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.</div></div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090216151053/http://www.bit-calculator.com/">Bit Calculator</a> – a tool providing conversions between bit, byte, kilobit, kilobyte, megabit, megabyte, gigabit, gigabyte</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nxu.biz/tools/BitXByteConverter/">BitXByteConverter</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160406223558/http://nxu.biz/tools/BitXByteConverter/">Archived</a> 2016-04-06 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> – a tool for computing file sizes, storage capacity, and digital information in various units</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link 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.navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Units_of_information107" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Information_units" title="Template:Information units"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Information_units" title="Template talk:Information units"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Information_units" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Information units"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Units_of_information107" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Units_of_information" title="Units of information">Units of information</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Platform-independent units</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">bit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hextet" title="Hextet">hextet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Octet_(computing)" title="Octet (computing)">octet</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Platform-dependent units</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Nibble" title="Nibble">nibble</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">byte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Syllable_(computing)" title="Syllable (computing)">syllable</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)" title="Word (computer architecture)">word</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Metric bit units</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Kilobit" class="mw-redirect" title="Kilobit">kilobit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Megabit" class="mw-redirect" title="Megabit">megabit</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Metric byte units</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Kilobyte" title="Kilobyte">kilobyte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Megabyte" title="Megabyte">megabyte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gigabyte" title="Gigabyte">gigabyte</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235" /></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Data_types177" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Data_types" title="Template:Data types"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Data_types" title="Template talk:Data types"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Data_types" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Data types"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Data_types177" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Data_type" title="Data type">Data types</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Units_of_information" title="Units of information">Uninterpreted</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Bit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Byte" title="Byte">Byte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system" title="Ternary numeral system">Trit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ternary_numeral_system#Tryte" title="Ternary numeral system">Tryte</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)" title="Word (computer architecture)">Word</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bit_array" title="Bit array">Bit array</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Numeric</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Arbitrary-precision_arithmetic" title="Arbitrary-precision arithmetic">Arbitrary-precision or bignum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Complex_data_type" title="Complex data type">Complex</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Decimal_data_type" title="Decimal data type">Decimal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fixed-point_arithmetic" title="Fixed-point arithmetic">Fixed point</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Floating-point_arithmetic" title="Floating-point arithmetic">Floating point</a> <ul><li>Reduced precision <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Minifloat" title="Minifloat">Minifloat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Half-precision_floating-point_format" title="Half-precision floating-point format">Half precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bfloat16_floating-point_format" title="Bfloat16 floating-point format">bfloat16</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Single-precision_floating-point_format" title="Single-precision floating-point format">Single precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Double-precision_floating-point_format" title="Double-precision floating-point format">Double precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quadruple-precision_floating-point_format" title="Quadruple-precision floating-point format">Quadruple precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Octuple-precision_floating-point_format" title="Octuple-precision floating-point format">Octuple precision</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Extended_precision" title="Extended precision">Extended precision</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Long_double" title="Long double">Long double</a></li></ul></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Integer_(computer_science)" title="Integer (computer science)">Integer</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Signedness" title="Signedness">signedness</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interval_arithmetic#Implementations" title="Interval arithmetic">Interval</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_data_type" title="Rational data type">Rational</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)" title="Pointer (computer programming)">Pointer</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Memory_address" title="Memory address">Address</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Physical_address" title="Physical address">physical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Virtual_address_space" title="Virtual address space">virtual</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reference_(computer_science)" title="Reference (computer science)">Reference</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Plain_text" title="Plain text">Text</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Character_(computing)" title="Character (computing)">Character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/String_(computer_science)" title="String (computer science)">String</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Null-terminated_string" title="Null-terminated string">null-terminated</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Composite_data_type" title="Composite data type">Composite</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Algebraic_data_type" title="Algebraic data type">Algebraic data type</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Generalized_algebraic_data_type" title="Generalized algebraic data type">generalized</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Array_data_type" class="mw-redirect" title="Array data type">Array</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Associative_array" title="Associative array">Associative array</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Class_(computer_programming)" title="Class (computer programming)">Class</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dependent_type" title="Dependent type">Dependent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intuitionistic_type_theory#Equality_type" title="Intuitionistic type theory">Equality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inductive_type" title="Inductive type">Inductive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intersection_type" title="Intersection type">Intersection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_(abstract_data_type)" title="List (abstract data type)">List</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Object_(computer_science)" title="Object (computer science)">Object</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metaobject" title="Metaobject">metaobject</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Option_type" title="Option type">Option type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Product_type" title="Product type">Product</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Record_(computer_science)" title="Record (computer science)">Record or Struct</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Refinement_type" title="Refinement type">Refinement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Set_(abstract_data_type)" title="Set (abstract data type)">Set</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Union_type" title="Union type">Union</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tagged_union" title="Tagged union">tagged</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Other</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Boolean_data_type" title="Boolean data type">Boolean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bottom_type" title="Bottom type">Bottom type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Container_(abstract_data_type)" title="Container (abstract data type)">Collection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Enumerated_type" title="Enumerated type">Enumerated type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exception_handling" title="Exception handling">Exception</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Function_type" title="Function type">Function type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Opaque_data_type" title="Opaque data type">Opaque data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Recursive_data_type" title="Recursive data type">Recursive data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semaphore_(programming)" title="Semaphore (programming)">Semaphore</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_(computing)" title="Stream (computing)">Stream</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Strongly_typed_identifier" title="Strongly typed identifier">Strongly typed identifier</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Top_type" title="Top type">Top type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_class" title="Type class">Type class</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Empty_type" title="Empty type">Empty type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unit_type" title="Unit type">Unit type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Void_type" title="Void type">Void</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related<br />topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abstract_data_type" title="Abstract data type">Abstract data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boxing_(computer_science)" class="mw-redirect" title="Boxing (computer science)">Boxing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Data_structure" title="Data structure">Data structure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Generic_programming" title="Generic programming">Generic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kind_(type_theory)" title="Kind (type theory)">Kind</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metaclass" title="Metaclass">metaclass</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Parametric_polymorphism" title="Parametric polymorphism">Parametric polymorphism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Primitive_data_type" title="Primitive data type">Primitive data type</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interface_(object-oriented_programming)" title="Interface (object-oriented programming)">Interface</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subtyping" title="Subtyping">Subtyping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_constructor" title="Type constructor">Type constructor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_conversion" title="Type conversion">Type conversion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_system" title="Type system">Type system</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_theory" title="Type theory">Type theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Variable_(computer_science)" title="Variable (computer science)">Variable</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link 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