Byte (B)
Definition
Eight bits — the basic unit of digital storage.
History
The byte was named in 1956 by Werner Buchholz at IBM, during the design of the Stretch computer, for the group of bits needed to encode one character — respelled from bite so it could not be confused with bit. Eight bits became the standard with the System/360 in the 1960s, giving 256 possible values.
Where it is used
The byte is the basic unit for file sizes and memory; storage and documents are measured in bytes and their multiples.
Typical uses include file sizes, memory.
Conversion pages
These pages convert byte to or from another unit in digital storage.
No conversion pages use this unit yet.
Other Digital storage units
Sources
- IEC 80000-13 IEC 80000-13 (quantities and units — information science); NIST on binary prefixes · Dataset reviewed Nov 11, 2026