Why is a byte 8 bits?

The reason why one byte is 8 bits: Because it is 128 characters, the 128th is 100000000, [System/360] laid the foundation for the character storage unit to use 8 bits in length, this is [1 byte = 8-bit] origin.

#The operating environment of this article: Windows 7 system, Dell G3 computer.

Because it is 128 characters, the 128th is 100000000.

About bytes:

1. The original meaning is to represent a complete character. The initial computer performance and storage capacity were relatively poor, so 4-bit BCD encoding was commonly used (this encoding appeared earlier than computers and was first used on punched cards).

2. System/360 laid the foundation for the character storage unit to be 8-bit in length. This is the origin of 1 byte = 8 bits.

3. Computers use binary to store information. This is determined by the laws of nature. It is estimated that only quantum computers can break through this limitation. Therefore, the smallest unit of information in the computer is preferably 2, 4, Bytes such as 8, 16, 32, and 64 are convenient for calculations, writing, and statistics in computers.

Others:

1. The word Byte indicates how many bits are needed to encode a character. However, in the 1960s, IBM's System/360 used EBCDIC encoding, and the ASCII encoding standard was also established at that time. Although the two standards are different, they both use 8 bits to represent a character. These two standards are widely used, so until now There is no ambiguity in a byte, which is 8 bits.

2. 1B(Byte)=8b(bit);

1KB=1024B;

1MB=1024KB;

1GB=1024MB.

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