8 bits
1 BData · definition
Decimal kB, MB and GB use powers of 1,000. KiB, MiB and GiB use powers of 1,024. The content of a file depends on encoding and compression.
Data & storage
Just how much data is 8 bits?
Characters
8 bit
BYTES OF DATA
8 bits
Decimal kB, MB and GB use powers of 1,000.
1 BData
0
ASCII character
An ASCII character is a letter, digit, punctuation mark or control code encoded using the American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
1 BData
0
Bar length represents bytes. The physical sizes of devices are schematic; encoding and compression affect file sizes.
A little perspective
8 bits is approximately equal to the data size of an ASCII character.
Measurements, assumptions & sources +
8 bits
Data: 1 B; definition.
Decimal kB, MB and GB use powers of 1,000. KiB, MiB and GiB use powers of 1,024. The content of a file depends on encoding and compression.
ASCII character
Data: 1 B; example.
One ASCII character stored as one byte. UTF-8 characters can occupy more than one byte.
Defined examples — our methodology
The marked data is calibrated. Unmeasured illustration details are representative.
Measurement details
Why these numbers?
Compare 8 bits with the data size of an ASCII character. The notes below explain how each value was chosen.
ASCII character
1 BData · example
One ASCII character stored as one byte. UTF-8 characters can occupy more than one byte.
- Comparing
- Data ↔ Data
- Relative size
- 8 bits is approximately equal to the data size of an ASCII character.
How to read the visual
The diagram uses the recorded measurements. Details outside the marked spans do not set the scale.
- The data size of an ASCII character: This is an illustrative comparison value, not a claim that every example is the same.
Data size depends on encoding and compression; decimal GB and binary GiB are different units.
1 Bbytes
1 × 10⁻⁹ GBgigabytes
9.3132 × 10⁻¹⁰ GiBgibibytes
1 × 10⁻¹² TBterabytes
Change your perspective
Put it next to…
Choose a suggestion to redraw the comparison, or open its page to learn what it is.
A little smaller. A little larger.