(Homonym: bite, bight).
A sequence of 8 bits (enough to represent one character of alphanumeric data) processed as a single unit of information.
The representation of a character in binary. Eight bits in length.
In computers, a character consisting of eight “bits”.
Sufficient computer memory to store a single character of data. The character is stored in the byte of memory as a pattern of bits (binary digits), using a code such as ASCII. A byte usually contains eight bits—for example, the capital letter F can be stored as the bit pattern 01000110.
A single byte can specify 256 values, such as the decimal numbers from 0 to 255; in the case of a single-byte pixel (picture element), it can specify 256 different colors. Three bytes (24 bits) can specify 16,777,216 values. Computer memory size is measured in kilobytes (1,024 bytes) or megabytes (1,024 kilobytes).
Short for binary term. A unit of data, today almost always consisting of 8 bits. A byte can represent a single character, such as a letter, a digit, or a punctuation mark. Because a byte represents only a small amount of information, amounts of computer memory and storage are usually given in kilobytes (1024 bytes), megabytes (1,048,576 bytes), or gigabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes). Abbreviation: B. See also bit, gigabyte, kilobyte, megabyte. Compare octet, word.