Bits and bytes are terms that you will often encounter in this digital era. You may find bits related to internet speed, and bytes you will find in data storage capacity information. Is that true?
Then, what is meant by bytes? And, what is the difference between bytes and bits?
Don’t worry, in this article, we will provide a complete explanation to answer these two questions. Come on, see more!
What Are Bits?
Bit stands for binary digit (binary number). This term was first proposed by a statistician named John W. Tukey in 1947.
Binary numbers are represented by the numbers 1 and 0 which represent logical values. The number 1 means “TRUE”, “ON”, or “YES”, while the number 0 means “FALSE”, “YES”, or “NO”.
This combination of binary numbers then becomes a language for digital communication and eventually forms various data on computers, in the form of letters, symbols, and others.
The bit is then defined as the smallest unit in data storage and digital communication.
Now, after knowing what a bit is, let’s also learn what a byte is.
What are Bytes?
A byte is a combination of several bits. To be precise, 1 byte consists of 8 bits. The term byte was first introduced by an American computer scientist named Werner Buchholz in 1956.
In computer usage, a byte represents one character of text in a computer. That is, one character consists of 8 binary numbers (bits). For example, the letter “A” is a string of bits 01000001.
Now, because computer data is growing, the use of bytes as a data unit measure is considered much more appropriate. Why is that? We’ll answer that in the differences section.
Well, now you know what bits and bytes are. So, let’s learn the difference between bits and bytes.
4 Differences in Bits and Bytes
If you’re asking what the difference between bytes and bits is, here’s the answer:
1. Symbol
The difference between the byte and the first bit is in the symbol used.
Bytes are written with the letter “B”, bits are written with the letter “b” according to the provisions of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. So, if you find it says 1 MB, it means 1 megabyte, not 1 megabit.
2. Value
How many bits are in a byte? Already answered above, 8 bit. However, in practice, large byte sizes are found in more use:
1 kilobyte (KB) = 1,024 bytes (B)
1 megabyte (MB) = 1,024 kilobytes (KB)
1 gigabyte (GB) = 1,024 megabyte (MB)
1 terabyte (TB) = 1,024 gigabytes (GB)
In addition, there are still larger sizes ranging from petabytes (PB), exabytes (EB), zettabytes (ZB), to yottabytes (YB).
To calculate the bit value of a byte unit, you simply multiply it by 8. For example, 1 MB = 1,048,756 Bytes x 8 = 8,390,048 bits.
3. Data Storage
Bits and bytes both refer to units of data used for digital communication. However, due to the rapid development of data, the use of bits is starting to be abandoned because they are considered less effective.
Byte as the larger size is used. Good for the data size of a file or the size of the storage capacity of devices such as CDs, flash drives or SSDs.
Not only physical data storage, cloud storage also uses data bytes. This is also often found in various hosting service offerings, right?
4. Internet Speed and Data Transfer
Because the amount of data is calculated using bytes, the data transfer is calculated in bytes per second. For example, 1 MB/s or 1 megabyte per second.
If you are currently connected to the internet using the Windows operating system, try opening the Task Manager application.
Then, look at the Processes tab, there is a Disk column that shows the data transfer process for each application in MB/s size.
the difference between bits and bytes is in their speed
Meanwhile, the speed of the network in general uses units of bits per second. For example, 1 Mbps. You can check it in the Network tab.
The unit of bits per second is also used by your internet service provider to offer service plans.
Say, if your internet package is 8 Mbps, then the transfer rate will be in the range of 1 MB/s. So, to download a file of 10 MB takes approximately 10 seconds.
Do you understand the difference between bits and bytes?
Bit or binary digit is the smallest unit of digital data consisting of two numbers, namely 1 and 0. While bytes are data units consisting of several bits.
In general, the difference between bits and bytes lies in:
- Writing symbols – bytes using “B”, and bits using “b”.
- Value conversion – one byte consists of 8 bits.
- Data storage – bytes are used as the smallest data storage size, not bits.
- Internet speed & data transfer – bits are used for internet network speed, while bytes are used for data transfer speed units.
By understanding the differences above, you will know about the amount of data and transfer speed to do it. This is especially important for those of you who manage websites.
Websites that store too much data will certainly be heavy. Even to access it, it takes longer with the average internet speed of visitors.
One of the efforts you can do as a website owner is to optimize its speed.
