What is a Byte

Definition of a Byte

A byte in computer terms is a unit of digital information that consists of 8 bits. A byte is one of the smallest addressable units of memory in a computer system and is used to represent a character such as a letter or number in digital form.

Bytes and Bits

A byte is made up of 8 bits, where a bit is the smallest unit of data in a computer, capable of representing a 0 or a 1 (binary). A single byte can represent 256 different values (2⁸), ranging from 0 to 255.

How Bytes are Used

Bytes are used to measure data size and memory capacity in computers. For example, file sizes are often measured in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), or terabytes (TB), which are multiples of bytes. Bytes are also the foundation of encoding text characters and storing them digitally.

Common Data Measurements

• 1 Kilobyte (KB) = 1,024 Bytes
• 1 Megabyte (MB) = 1,024 Kilobytes
• 1 Gigabyte (GB) = 1,024 Megabytes
• 1 Terabyte (TB) = 1,024 Gigabytes