Full name: byte
Plural form: bytes
Symbol: B
Category type: computer data storage
Scale factor: 1
Valid units must be of the computer data storage type.
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A byte is the basic unit of measurement of information storage in computer science. In many computer architectures it is a unit of memory addressing, consisting of 8 bits.
Since computer memory comes in base two rather than 10, a large portion of the software and computer industry use binary estimates of the SI-prefixed quantities, while producers of computer storage devices prefer the SI values. This is why a computer hard drive advertised with a "100 GB" decimal storage capacity actually contains no more than 93 GB of 8-bit (power of 2) addressable storage.