At ComposeMD, we are big believers in trying to demystify the intimidating. By attempting to break down complex topics to their fundamentals, we hope to remove the stress-inducing barriers that prevent proper comprehension. An oversimplification at times? Definitely. Something to build upon? We hope. Unless you’re in Generation Z, modern computing terminology qualifies as a matter that requires a little unmasking. For example, what is the difference between bits and bytes? Here’s a brief primer on those two key terms.
Bits
The most basic unit in computing is the bit, short for binary digit. We’re talking about the base-2 number system, meaning a bit can have only one of two values, either a 0 or a 1. These 0’s and 1’s are the fundamental input governing the behavior of the ridiculously complex electronic circuits in computers. The actions of these circuits, as governed by the off (0) and on (1) combinations, ultimately create the magic on our screens.
A kilobit consists of 1,024 bits (due to that whole base-2 situation, with 1,024 representing 2 to the power of 10).
A megabit consists of 1,024 kilobits, or 1,048,576 bits (that’s 1024 x 1024).
A gigabit contains 1.024 megabits.
A terabit contains 1,024 gigabits.
Internet connection speeds are generally reported in bit rates, as in Megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps). Note the lowercase b in these abbreviations, as compared to the uppercase B that appears below.
Bytes
While connection speeds refer to bits and bit rates, data sizes (i.e. file sizes) are typically measured in bytes. One byte consists of 8 bits. In other words, a byte is 8 times the size of a bit.
Similar to the scale above, a kilobyte consists of 1,024 bytes.
A megabyte consists of 1,024 kilobytes.
A gigabyte contains 1,024 megabytes.
A terabyte contains 1,024 gigabytes.
A random example of a file size is 30 megabytes, or 30 MB (note the uppercase B). Given the relationship between bits and bytes, namely a factor of 8, it can be estimated that a 30 MB file that is downloaded at a connection speed of 30 Mbps would take about 8 seconds to download. (One-eighth of the file is downloaded every second.)
Just to confuse everyone, certain hard drives express their storage in the typical base-10 number system, where a gigabyte would represent 1,000,000,000 bytes as opposed to the 1,073,741,824 bytes that the base-2 number system would indicate.
Obviously, this little introduction to bits and bytes will definitely not make you a technology guru. But it might, perhaps, allow you to transiently converse with one.
