Bit rate
Bit rate (also called bitrate, data rate or R) is how much data can move from one place to another in a given amount of time. It is often measured in bits per second (normally shortened to bits/s or b/s).
It is different from symbol rate and bandwidth, but part of the same group.[clarification needed]
Bit rate is often used in signal processing to say what quality a video or audio (sound) file is. For example, an audio file that has a bit rate 64 Kb/s (kilobits per second) is often said to be low quality, but an audio file that has a bit rate of 320 Kb/s is said to be high quality, due to more sound data stored per second.
Other units
Common examples
- Megabit per second (Mbit/s or Mb/s) (1 000 000 bit/s)
- Megabyte per second or megaoctet per second (MB/s or Mo/s) (8 000 000 bit/s)
- Gigabit per second (Gbit/s or Gb/s) (1 000 000 000 bit/s)
- Gigabyte per second or gigaoctet per second (GB/s or Go/s) (8 000 000 000 bit/s)
References
- ↑ Leonard, Mike; Hara, Hiroshi. "A beginner's guide to bit rate". Adobe. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
- ↑ "Bitrate: Meaning, Usage, Importance". DEXON Systems. 2 July 2024. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
- ↑ "What is Audio Bitrate: A Complete Guide to Sound Quality". Nottingham HiFi. 17 May 2025. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
