Bit

A bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents one of two logical states with one of two possible values; these values being 0 and 1, but can be represented as false or true respectively.

The symbol for the binary digit is either "bit" or "b". It is important to note, that a byte is represented by the uppercase "B".

A contiguous group of binary digits is commonly called a bit string, bit vector or a single-dimensional (or multi-dimensional) bit array. A group of eight bits is called a byte, while a group of four bits is called a nibble. Most programming languages associate the Boolean data type to the underlying storage of a single bit.

Multiple-bit units
Decimal Value Metric 1000 kbit kilobit 10002 Mbit megabit 10003 Gbit gigabit 10004 Tbit terabit 10005 Pbit petabit 10006 Ebit exabit 10007 Zbit zettabit 10008 Ybit yottabit 10009 Rbit ronnabit 100010 Qbit quettabit	Binary Value IEC Memory 1024 Kibit kibibit Kbit Kb kilobit 10242 Mibit mebibit Mbit Mb megabit 10243 Gibit gibibit Gbit Gb gigabit 10244 Tibit tebibit — 10245 Pibit pebibit — 10246 Eibit exbibit — 10247 Zibit zebibit — 10248 Yibit yobibit — — —
Orders of magnitude of data

See also

• Bit rate and baud rate
• Bitstream
• Byte
• Qubit (quantum bit)