Capacity of information storage and communication

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Units of information</span>

Units of information

<p>In <a href="/en/Computing" title="Computing" class="wl">computing</a> and <a href="/en/Telecommunication" title="Telecommunication" class="mw-redirect wl">telecommunications</a>, a <b>unit of information</b> is the capacity of some standard <a href="/en/Data" title="Data" class="wl">data</a> storage system or <a href="/en/Communication_channel" title="Communication channel" class="wl">communication channel</a>, used to measure the capacities of other systems and channels. In <a href="/en/Information_theory" title="Information theory" class="wl">information theory</a>, units of information are also used to measure <a href="/en/Information" title="Information" class="wl">information</a> contained in messages and the <a href="/en/Entropy_(information_theory)" title="Entropy (information theory)" class="wl">entropy</a> of random variables.</p>

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<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt3">Capacity of information storage and communication</div>
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<p>The most commonly used units of data storage capacity are the <a href="/en/Bit" title="Bit" class="wl">bit</a>, the capacity of a system that has only two states, and the <a href="/en/Byte" title="Byte" class="wl">byte</a> (or <a href="/en/Octet_(computing)" title="Octet (computing)" class="wl">octet</a>), which is equivalent to eight bits. Multiples of these units can be formed from these with the <a href="/en/Metric_prefix" title="Metric prefix" class="wl">SI prefixes</a> (power-of-ten prefixes) or the newer IEC <a href="/en/Binary_prefix" title="Binary prefix" class="wl">binary prefixes</a> (power-of-two prefixes).</p>



In computing and telecommunications, a unit of information is the capacity of some standard data storage system or communication channel, used to measure the capacities of other systems and channels. In information theory, units of information are also used to measure information contained in messages and the entropy of random variables. The most commonly used units of data storage capacity are the bit, the capacity of a system that has only two states, and the byte , which is equivalent to eight bits. Multiples of these units can be formed from these with the SI prefixes or the newer IEC binary prefixes . 