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What is a Byte?

Learn about the byte, what is a byte? How a byte stores in the memory, etc.
Submitted by Shivang Yadav, on March 12, 2022

Byte

A byte in computer architecture is a unit of data consisting of 8 binary digits. Each binary digit is called a Bit which can have two values (0 or 1). A byte can be used to store values commonly characters, numbers, and other symbols.

Types of bytes in programming

As the world of computing is increasing the storage required to process and store data has grown to an extent. The number of bytes required has become huge and there are also other storage units that have now come into existence now with byte being the smallest.

Byte : unit consist of 8 bits
1 Byte = 8 bits
1 KiloByte (KB) = 2¹⁰ bytes
1 MegaByte (MB) = 2¹⁰KiloByte
1 GigaByte (MB) = 2¹⁰MegaByte
1 TeraByte (MB) = 2¹⁰GigaByte
1 PetaByte (MB) = 2¹⁰TeraByte

What unit comes before a byte?

A nibble (a combination of 4 bits) comes before a byte.

What unit comes after a byte?

A kilobyte and kilobit come after a byte. A kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes, and a kilobit is equal to 10³ bits = 1000 bits.

What is 1 byte called?

The one byte is called 8-bits. The bit is a smallest unit of data in a computer. The Bit is the acronym of Binary Digit.

What are bytes used for?

A byte is used to represent a character such as a letter, number or typographic symbol.