Bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable R) is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time.[1]
"Transmission rate" redirects here. For the rate of spread of an epidemic, see Basic reproduction number. For disk drives, see Hard disk drive performance characteristics.
The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction with an SI prefix such as kilo (1 kbit/s = 1,000 bit/s), mega (1 Mbit/s = 1,000 kbit/s), giga (1 Gbit/s = 1,000 Mbit/s) or tera (1 Tbit/s = 1,000 Gbit/s).[2] The non-standard abbreviation bps is often used to replace the standard symbol bit/s, so that, for example, 1 Mbps is used to mean one million bits per second.
In most computing and digital communication environments, one byte per second (symbol: B/s) corresponds to 8 bit/s.