Bandwidth Definition Bandwidth describes the maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet connection. It measures how much data can be sent over a specific connection in a given amount of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet connection has a bandwidth of 1,000 Mbps, (125 megabytes per second). An Internet connection via cable modem may provide 25 Mbps of bandwidth. While bandwidth is used to ..
Category : Bits and Bytes
Bitrate Definition Bitrate, as the name implies, describes the rate at which bits are transferred from one location to another. In other words, it measures how much data is transmitted in a given amount of time. Bitrate is commonly measured in bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (Kbps), or megabits per second (Mbps). For ..
Megabyte Definition A megabyte is 106 or 1,000,000 bytes. One megabyte (abbreviated “MB”) is equal to 1,000 kilobytes and precedes the gigabyte unit of measurement. While a megabyte is technically 1,000,000 bytes, megabytes are often used synonymously with mebibytes, which contain 1,048,576 bytes (220 or 1,024 x 1,024 bytes). Megabytes are often used to measure the size of large files. For example, a high ..
Terabyte Definition A terabyte is 1012 or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. One terabyte (abbreviated “TB”) is equal to 1,000 gigabytes and precedes the petabyte unit of measurement. While a terabyte is exactly 1 trillion bytes, in some cases terabytes and tebibytes are used synonymously, though a tebibyte actually contains 1,099,511,627,776 bytes (1,024 gibibytes). Terabytes are most often used to measure the storage capacity of large storage devices. While hard ..
Kilobit Definition A kilobit is 103 or 1,000 bits. One kilobit (abbreviated “Kb”) contains one thousand bits and there are 1,000 kilobits in a megabit. Kilobits (Kb) are smaller than than kilobytes (KB), since there are 8 kilobits in a single kilobyte. Therefore, a kilobit is one-eighth the size of a kilobyte. Before broadband Internet was common, Internet connection speeds were often ..
String Definition A string is a data type used in programming, such as an integer and floating point unit, but is used to represent text rather than numbers. It is comprised of a set of characters that can also contain spaces and numbers. For example, the word “hamburger” and the phrase “I ate 3 hamburgers” are both ..
Mbps Definition Stands for “Megabits Per Second.” One megabit is equal to one million bits or 1,000 kilobits. While “megabit” sounds similar to “megabyte,” a megabit is roughly one eighth the size of a megabyte (since there are eight bits in a byte). Mbps is used to measure data transfer speeds of high bandwidth connections, such as ..
Kbps Definition Stands for “Kilobits Per Second.” 1 Kbps is equal to 1,000 bits per second. That means a 300 Kbps connection can transfer 300,000 bits in one second. 1,000 Kbps is equal to 1 Mbps. Kbps is primarily used to measure data transfer rates. For example, dial-up modems were rated by their maximum download speeds, such as 14.4, 28.8, and 56 Kbps. ..
Byte Definition A byte is a data measurement unit that contains eight bits, or a series of eight zeros and ones. A single byte can be used to represent 28 or 256 different values. The byte was originally created to store a single character, since 256 values is sufficient to represent all lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and ..
Bit Definition A bit (short for “binary digit”) is the smallest unit of measurement used to quantify computer data. It contains a single binary value of 0 or 1. While a single bit can define a boolean value of True (1) or False (0), an individual bit has little other use. Therefore, in computer storage, bits are often grouped together ..
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