What are bits and bytes

Bits and bytes are the most commonly used units of digital measurement. They sound very similar but they measure different things.

Bits measure speed

So, in other words, how fast data can be downloaded or uploaded from the web. Bits are measured in megabits per second. You’ll see ‘Mbps’ and the ‘bits’ is always shown as a lowercase 'b'. This is the measurement you see alongside all broadband plans, such as 64Mbps, 150Mbps or 500Mbps.

Mbps = speed

Bytes measure data size

Bytes measure the size of files that you upload or download. Bytes are measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). 'Bytes’ is always represented as a capital 'B'. So, for example, downloading a 45 minute episode of your favourite TV programme might take up 180MB of storage.

MB = storage

What this means for your broadband

Bytes (the size/storage. Or the MB) are much larger than a bit. One byte is made up eight bits.

Because there are 8Mb in a MB, this means if you are downloading a 1 megabyte (MB) file on a 1 megabit per second (Mbps) connection it would take you 8 seconds to download that file.

Or, another example would be downloading a 100MB file on a 100Mbps connection would also take you eight seconds.

It gets even more tricky when the file size is different (which is no doubt will be!) than your connection speed. The equation you would use here is:

File size in bytes / Download speeds in bits / 8 = time

So, for example

50MB / 10mbps / 8 = 40 seconds

Using this sum, you can work out how long it will take you to download anything based on the file size and your connection speed. This is confusing though and even more so when you get into the hundreds or thousands of megabytes.

We recommend avoiding all the maths and using this handy download time calculator instead.

Other sizes and speeds to know about

There are loads of other measurements, but you’re probably already feeling bamboozled and most of us will have no reason in life to ever have to deal with them. So here are the common ones you will come across in the internet world.

Size

Kilobyte (KB) = 1,024 bytes

Megabyte (MB) = 1,024 kilobytes

Gigabyte (GB) = 1,024 megabytes

Kilobit (kb) = 1,024 bits

Megabit (mb) = 1,024 kilobits

Gigabit (gb) = 1,024 megabits

Broadband plans and speeds: what should I be looking at?

Broadband speeds are advertised in bits per second (bps) which can also be written as Mb (we show speeds this way). Or gigabits per second (Gbps). This indicates how many bits of data can be downloaded every second.

So, like the confusing sum we showed you earlier, one bit (1b) is equivalent to eight bytes (8B), meaning a 10Mbps connection would take about eight seconds to download a 10MB file.

The faster the speed, the faster the reaction to any gaming command, file download or streaming.

What broadband speed do I need?

People always want to know: ‘What's a good internet speed?'. But, the question they should really be asking is: ‘What internet speed is best for me?' You want all your household’s online needs met, but without paying loads extra for something you’re never even using.

These are the things you should consider:

• The number of people in your home
• The number of devices using the internet at the same time
• What are your family using these for?