Orders Of Magnitude (data) Article Index for
Orders Of
Website Links For
Orders
 

Information About

Orders Of Magnitude (data)




This is a list of orders of magnitude for Data (or Information ), measured in Bit s. This article assumes a formal attitude towards terminology. That means two things:
# A group of 8 bits in a computer is called an Octet . A Byte is the same for most practical purposes, but does not equal 8 bits on all computer architectures.
# The Decimal Prefix es ''kilo'', ''mega'' etc. are strictly powers of 10. The Powers Of 2 are the Binary Prefix es ''kibi'', ''mebi'' etc.

Accordingly, 8192 bits of data are a ''kibioctet'' and 8000 bits are a ''kilooctet''.





1 BIT

  • 1 bit – True or false


  • 3 bits – The size of an Octal digit.

  • 4 bits – A Semioctet or Nibble (sometimes spelled ''nybble''). The size of a Hexadecimal digit.

  • 5 bits – Size of code points in the Baudot Code , used in Telex communication.

  • 6 bits – Size of code points in the Braille code, a tactile writing system for the blind.

  • 7 bits – Size of code points in the ASCII character set.

  • 8 bits – An Octet . Equivalent to a Byte on many computer architectures.



10 BITS

  • 10 bits – One decabit

  • --- minimum length to store a single group of 3 decimal digits.

  • --- minimum Byte length to store a single octet with error-correcting memory.

  • --- minimum Frame length to transmit a single octet with asynchronous serial protocols.

  • 12 bits – Wordlength of the legendary PDP-8 of Digital Equipment Corporation (built from 1965 -1990)

  • 16 bits – In many Programming Language s, the size of an Integer capable of holding 65,536 different values.

  • 16 bits – The "word size" (instruction length) for the various "second generation" console systems, including: Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis

  • 32 bits (4 octets) – Size of an integer capable of holding 4,294,967,296 different values.

  • 32 bits – Size of an IEEE 754 single-precision Floating Point number.

  • 32 bits – Size of addresses in IPv4 , the current Internet Protocol .

  • 56 bits (7 octets) – Cipher strength of the DES encryption standard.

  • 64 bits (8 octets) – Size of an integer capable of holding 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 different values.

  • 64 bits – Size of an IEEE 754 double-precision floating point number.

  • 80 bits (10 octets) – Size of an extended precision floating point number, for intermediate calculations that can be performed in floating point units of most Processor s of the x86 family.



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>2</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE HECTOBIT

  • 100 bits – One hectobit

  • 128 bits (16 octets) – Size of addresses in IPv6 , the coming Internet Protocol .

  • --- Minimum cipher strength of the Rijndael and AES encryption standards, and of the widely used MD5 cryptographic Message Digest algorithm.

  • 160 bits – Maximum key length of the SHA-1 , standard Tiger (hash) , and Tiger2 cryptographic message digest algorithms.

  • 256 bits (32 octets) – Minimum key length for the recommended strong cryptographic Message Digest s in 2004 .

  • 512 bits (64 octets) – Maximum key length for the standard strong cryptographic Message Digest s in 2004 .



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>3</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE KILOBIT

  • 1,024 bits (210 bits, 128 octets) – One Kibibit .

  • 1,288 bits – Approximate maximum capacity of a standard Magnetic Stripe Card .

  • 4,096 bits (212 bits, 512 octets) – Typical sector size, and minimum space allocation unit on computer storage volumes, with most File System s.

  • 4,704 bits (588 octets) – Uncompressed single-channel frame length in standard MPEG audio (75 frames per second and per channel), with medium quality 8-bit sampling at 44,100  Hz (or 16-bit sampling at 22,050 Hz).

  • 8,000 bits (103 octets) – One Kilooctet .

  • 8,192 bits (213 bits, 1,024 octets) – One Kibioctet .

  • 9,408 bits (1,176 octets) – Uncompressed single-channel frame length in standard MPEG audio (75 frames per second and per channel), with standard 16-bit sampling at 44,100 Hz.



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>4</SUP> BITS


  • 15,350 bits – one screen of data displayed on an 8-bit monochrome text console (80x24)

  • 20 - 50 kbits – one page of typewritten text (uncompressed, depends on size of type and number of possible glyphs)



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>5</SUP> BITS

  • 100 kbits – approximate size of this article



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>6</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE MEGABIT

  • 1,048,576 bits (220 bits) – One Mebibit .

  • 1,978,560 bits – A one-page, standard-resolution black-and-white Fax (1728 × 1145 pixels).

  • 4,147,200 bits – One frame of uncompressed NTSC DVD video (720 × 480 × 12 bpp Y'CbCr).

  • 4,976,640 bits – One frame of uncompressed PAL DVD video (720 × 576 × 12 bpp Y'CbCr).

  • 8,000,000 bits (106 octets) – One Megaoctet .

  • 8,388,608 bits (223 bits, 220 octets) – One Mebioctet .



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>7</SUP> BITS

  • 11,520,000 bits – Capacity of a lower-resolution computer monitor (as of 2006), 800 × 600 pixels, 24 bpp.

  • 11,796,480 bits – Capacity of a 3.5" Floppy Disk , colloquially known as 1.44 Megabyte but actually 1.44 × 1000 × 1024 bytes.

  • 25 Mbits – Amount of data in a typical color slide.

  • 25,964,951 bits – Size of the largest known Mersenne Prime . All 25,964,951 bits are 1.

  • 46,080,000 bits – Capacity of a high-resolution computer monitor (as of 2006), 1600 × 1200 pixels, 24 bpp.

  • 50–100 megabits – Amount of information in a typical Phone Book .



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>8</SUP> BITS

  • 150 Mbits – Amount of data in a large foldout Map .

  • 423,360,000 bits: A 5-minute-length audio recording, in CDDA quality



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>9</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE GIGABIT

  • 1,073,741,824 bits (230 bits) – One Gibibit .

  • 8,000,000,000 bits (109 octets) – One Gigaoctet .

  • 5.45 bits (650 mebioctets) – Capacity of a regular Compact Disc .

  • 5.89 bits (702 mebioctets) – capacity of a large regular compact disc.

  • 6.4 bits – Capacity of the Human Genome , 3.2 billion Base Pair s (each pair counts 2 for 2 bits of data).

  • 8,589,934,592 bits (233 bits, 230 octets) – One Gibioctet .



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>10</SUP> BITS

  • 4.04 bits (4.7 gibioctets) – capacity of a single-layer, single-sided DVD.



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>11</SUP> BITS

  • 1.46 bits (17 gibioctets) – Capacity of a double-sided, dual-layered DVD .

  • 2.15 bits (25 gibioctets) – Capacity of a single-sided, single-layered 12  Cm Blu-ray Disc



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>12</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE TERABIT

  • 1012 bits (125 gigaoctets) – Approximate size of all Wikimedia projects.

  • 1,099,511,627,776 bits (240 bits, more than 137 Gigaoctet s) – One Tebibit .

  • 1.6 bits (200 Gigaoctet s) – Capacity of a Hard Disk that would be considered moderately large in 2004 .

  • (approximately) 4.12 bits (515 gibioctets) – As Of 2002 , data of Pi to the largest number of digits ever calculated (1.24 trillion).

  • 8,000,000,000,000 bits (1012 octets) – One Teraoctet .

  • 8,796,093,022,208 bits (243 bits, 240 octets) – One Tebioctet .



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>13</SUP> BITS




10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>14</SUP> BITS

  • 1.5 bits (18.75 teraoctets) – Amount of information in the Library Of Congress , if it were all digitized.



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>15</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE PETABIT



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>16</SUP> BITS



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>17</SUP> BITS



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>18</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE EXABIT

  • 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1018 bits, 125 Petaoctet s) – One Exabit

  • 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bits (260 bits, more than 144 Petaoctet s) – One Exbibit

  • 1.6 bits (200 Petaoctet s) – Total amount of Print ed material in the world.

  • 8,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1018 octets) – One Exaoctet

  • 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 bits (263 bits, 260 octets) – One Exbioctet



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>19</SUP> BITS



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>20</SUP> BITS



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>21</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE ZETTABIT

  • 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1021 bits, 125 Exaoctet s) – One Zettabit

  • 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bits (270 bits, less than 148 Exaoctet s) – One '' Zebibit ''

  • 8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1021 octets) – One Zettaoctet

  • 9,444,732,965,739,290,427,392 bits (273 bits, 270 octets) – One '' Zebioctet ''



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>22</SUP> BITS

  • 1.8 bits (2.25 zettaoctets) – amount of information which can be stored in 1 Gram of DNA



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>23</SUP> BITS



10<SUP><SPAN STYLE="DISPLAY:NONE;">^</SPAN>24</SUP> BITS &NDASH; ONE YOTTABIT

  • 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1024 bits, 125 Zettaoctet s) – One Yottabit

  • 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bits (280 bits, more than 151 Zettaoctet s) – One '' Yobibit ''

  • 8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1024 octets) – One Yottaoctet

  • 9,671,406,556,917,033,397,649,408 bits (283 bits, 280 octets) – One '' Yobioctet ''