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What is a...

...?

Definition:

A byte is a group of 8 bits, strung together.

Explanation:

A bit is either a 1 or a 0. Each byte (8 bits) means something to the computer. The byte "01000001" means the capital letter A. The byte "01000010" means the capital letter B.

Sentence:

"The phrase 'Hello World' is 11 bytes long."

 

 

Notes: A byte is a unit of information. Most data in computers is organized and measured in bytes (although the data in a byte is actually stored as eight on/off signals called bits). One byte can represent a character (such as A, 9, ?, or a space), or a value from 0 to 255. Graphics are stored as values for colors and locations of pixels, and they use a lot more bits and bytes than text or numbers.

Your hard drive and memory are measured by how many bytes they can store. For instance, a hard drive might store 100,000,000,000 bytes of data - which would make it a 100-gigabyte hard drive.

Find out More!

• See the alphabet in binary code.
  
  
• Go directly to "byte" in the TechEncyclopedia.
  
  
• See "bit" here in TekMom's dictionary.
  
  
• Look it up yourself in the FOLDOC dictionary.