In what unit is bit byte and computer memory measured?

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A bit is the smallest amount of memory a computer can hold, and it can be only one of two values: 0 or 1.  While a bit in itself can hold very little data, bits are strung together in larger chunks that can hold more useful information. Bit strings form binary code, a succession of 0s and 1s which form the language readable by computers.

Eight bits make up a byte. Whilst a bit can only be either 0 or 1, a byte can represent a value between 0 and 255.

1024 bytes make up a kilobyte, and 1024 kilobytes make up a megabyte.

You will be familiar with megabytes (mb) as they are used commonly as a measurement in modern computing. For example, internet speeds may be described as "17mbps" download speed. This means that the connection can download 17mbs of data in one second. To put that in perspective, 17mbs equates to about 3-5 mp3 music files.

Memory unit is the amount of data that can be stored in the storage unit. This storage capacity is expressed in terms of Bytes.

The following table explains the main memory storage units −

S.No.Unit & Description1

Bit (Binary Digit)

A binary digit is logical 0 and 1 representing a passive or an active state of a component in an electric circuit.

2

Nibble

A group of 4 bits is called nibble.

3

Byte

A group of 8 bits is called byte. A byte is the smallest unit, which can represent a data item or a character.

4

Word

A computer word, like a byte, is a group of fixed number of bits processed as a unit, which varies from computer to computer but is fixed for each computer.

The length of a computer word is called word-size or word length. It may be as small as 8 bits or may be as long as 96 bits. A computer stores the information in the form of computer words.

Because computers use the binary (base two) method which is unlike the decimal (base ten) method, a kilobyte (KB) contains 1,024 bytes, not 1,000 bytes as many might have mistakenly regarded so far. So, 1 MB contains 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024 kilobytes instead of 1,000,000 bytes or 1,000 kilobytes. Similarly, 1 gigabyte contains 1,024 megabytes, or 1,073,741,824 bytes instead of 1,000 megabytes or 1,000,000,000 bytes. Here’s the mathematical calculation.

Our decimal method is based on 10

101 = 10; 102 = 10 x 10 = 100; 103 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000; 106 = 1,000,000

Computer’s Binary Digit System is based on 2

21 = 2; 22 = 2 x 2 = 4; 23 = 2 x 2 x 2 = 8; 210 = 1,024; 220 = 1,048,576

How Do Manufacturers and Computers Define Memory Capacity?

Hard drive manufacturing companies take a different route other than binary digits or its subsequent larger units. Using a decimal system, manufacturers define the space a particular hard drive comes with. You’ll see 1 MB is described as one million bytes, 1 GB as one billion bytes, etc. So, you can now easily understand why there’s always a difference in the numeric expressions of the capacity of a hard drive in the particular of the manufacturer and the system of your computer.
For example, a 10GB HDD based on a decimal system stores technically 10,000,000,000 bytes The binary system of a computer, in terms of the way it’s defined, should say that the capacity is 10,737,418,240 bytes. But, the computer acknowledges only 9.31 GB instead of 10 GB. A beginner would easily call it a sign of malfunction which is not. The only thing that happens here is the different angles the memory is defined.

A Table Showing the Computer Memory Assessment

Here’s a list of all units along with their numeric expressions for the subsequent ones.

Unit + AmountEquivalent Unit1 Bit0/18 Bits1 Byte1024 Bytes1 Kilobyte1024 Kilobytes1 Megabyte1024 Megabytes1 Gigabyte1024 Gigabytes1 Terabyte1024 Terabytes1 Petabyte1024 Petabytes1 Exabyte1024 Exabytes1 Zettabyte1024 Zettabytes1 Yottabyte

Here’s another list of the units expressed for their byte equivalents.

UnitsEquivalents1 KB1,024 Bytes1 MB1,048,576 Bytes1 GB1,073,741,824 Bytes1 TB1,099,511,627,776 Bytes1 PB1,125,899,906,842,624 Bytes

A Few Practical Examples of Computer Memory

Some of the most commonly used units of computer memory are megabytes and gigabytes. So, in terms of practical applications, we often see the following things.

Computer memory has grown exponentially in the past three decades, and each generation of memory brings with it a new level of memory units and new terms to learn. Let's take a look at these units.

Building blocks

Bits and bytes are the basic building blocks of memory. "Bit" stands for binary digit. A bit is a one or a zero, on or off, which is how all computer information is stored. A byte is made up of eight bits. Eight bits, or a byte, was the original amount of information needed to encode a character of text. The number was later standardized as computer hardware changed.

For technical reasons, computer memory capacity is expressed in multiples of a power of two. The metric prefixes were then applied to those multiples to provide an easy way to express the very large numbers of bits and bytes.

SI prefixes

Computer memory uses a portion of the International System of Units (SI) prefixes for multiples of the base unit, a byte. The prefixes are not truly metric, however, because a byte is eight bits, a kilobyte is 1024 bytes.

Memory Prefix

Amount

Kilo (Kilobyte, KB)

1,024 Bytes

Mega (Megabyte, MB)

1,024 Kilobytes

Giga (Gigabyte, GB)

1,024 Megabytes

Tera (Terabyte, TB)

1,024 Gigabytes

Peta (Petabyte, PB)

1,024 Terabytes

Memory units

Computers use memory in random access memory (RAM), which stores information temporarily and in storage drives, which permanently store data. RAM allows your computer to switch between programs and have large files ready to view.

Depending on what you use your computer for, you generally want as much memory as your computer will hold. The manufacturer and model of your computer determines what kind and how much memory your computer came with and the maximum amount and speed it can accommodate. Use the Crucial® Advisor™ tool or System Scanner tool to find compatible memory. To learn more about how much memory you should have, read here.

Storage drives; hard disk drives and solid state drives, use the same memory terms when describing the capacity of the drive. As files  with videos and very large photographs get larger, larger drive capacities are needed, as well. Currently, solid state drives are sold in a number of different gigabyte and terabyte capacities. As with RAM, you can use the Crucial® Advisor™ tool or System Scanner tool to find an SSD that's compatible with your system.

What is measured in bits and bytes?

What are the units of bit?