This article is about the unit of information, see Bit (disambiguation) for other meanings.
A bit (abbreviated b) is the most basic information unit used in computing and information theory. A single bit is a zero or a one, or a true or a false, or for that matter any two mutually exclusive states.
A byte is a collection of bits, originally variable in size but now almost always eight bits. Eight-bit bytes are also known as octets. A four-bit quantity is known as a nibble. In some architectures, 16 bits make up a word, 32 bits a double word (dword): see word size.
Terms for large quantities of bits can be formed using the standard range of prefixes, e.g., kilobit (kbit), megabit (Mbit) and gigabit (Gbit). Note that much confusion exists regarding these units and their abbreviations, see Binary prefixes. Although it is clearer symbology to use "bit" for the bit and "b" for the byte, "b" is often used for bit and "B" for byte. (In SI, B stands for the bel.)
A binary number can be represented by any sequence of bits (binarydigits), which in turn may be represented by any mechanism capable of being in two mutually exclusive states.
When a string of binary symbols is manipulated in this way, it is called a bitwise operation; the logical operators AND, OR, and XOR may be performed on corresponding bits in two binary numerals provided as input.
Binary 000 is equivalent to the octal digit 0, binary 111 is equivalent to octal 7, and so on.
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