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In Telecommunications and Computing , bitrate (sometimes written '''bit rate''', '''data rate''' or as a Variable ''R'' or ''f''b) is the number of Bit s that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. Bit rate is synonymous to '''data rate''' and digital Bandwidth .

The bit rate is quantified using the 'bit per second' (bit/s or '''bps''') unit, often in conjunction with a SI Prefix such as Kilo- (kbit/s or kbps), Mega- (Mbit/s or Mbps), Giga- (Gbit/s or Gbps) or Tera- (Tbit/s or Tbps).

In digital communication systems, the gross bitrate, '''raw bitrate''', Data Signaling Rate or Line Rate is the total number of physically transferred bits per second over a communication link, including useful data as well as protocol overhead.

The net bitrate, '''useful bit rate''' or Data Transfer Rate of a digital communication link is the capacity excluding the Physical Layer protocol overhead, typically redundant Forward Error Correction and other Channel Coding . The relationship between the gross bit rate and net bit rate is affected by the forward error correction Code Rate according to the following.

:Gross bit rate · Code Rate ≥ Net bit rate

The Connection speed or Data Transfer Rate of a network access technology or communication device typically refers to the physical layer net bit rate in accordance with the above definition. For example, the bit rate of 100 Mbit/s of an Ethernet 100Base-TX physical layer, the downlink bit rate of 56000 bit/s of a V.92 modem and the bit rate of between 6 and 54 Mbit/s of a 802.11a wireless network, all refer to the net bit rate.

The Channel Capacity is a theoretical upper bound for the maximum net bitrate, exclusive of forward error correction coding, that is possible without bit errors for a certain physical point-to-point Communication Channel .

:Channel capacity ≥ Net bit rate

The term Throughput or digital bandwidth consumption denotes the achieved bit rate in a computer network over a logical or physical communication link or through a network node, typically measured at a reference point below the Network Layer and above the Physical Layer .

Goodput refers to the achieved net bit rate that is delivered to the Application Layer , exclusive of all protocol overhead, data packets retransmissions, etc. For example, in the case of file transfer, the goodput corresponds to the achieved file transfer rate. The file transfer rate in bit/s can be calculated as the file size (in byte), divided by the file transfer time (in seconds), and multiplied by eight.

:Net bit rate ≥ Maximum throughput ≥ Throughput ≥ Goodput

In digital Multimedia , ''bit rate'' often refers to the number of bits used per unit of time to represent a continuous medium such as Audio or Video after Source Coding (data compression). The size of a multimedia file in Byte is the product of the bit rate (in bit/s) and the length of the recording (in seconds), times eight. In case of Streaming Multimedia , this bit rate measure is the Goodput that is required to avoid interrupts.

:Required goodput ≥ Goodput


USAGE NOTES

The formal abbreviation for "bit per second" is "bit/s" (not "bits/s"). In less formal contexts the abbreviations "b/s" or "bps" are often used, though this risks confusion with " Byte s per second" ("B/s", "Bps"). Even less formally, it is common to drop the "per second", and simply refer to "a 128 kilobit audio stream" or "a 100 megabit network".

Gross bit rate is sometimes used interchangeably with " Baud rate", which is correct ''only'' when each modulation transition of a data Transmission system carries exactly one bit of data (something not true for modern Modem modulation systems, for example).

While often referred to as " Speed ", bitrate does not measure ''distance''/time but ''quantity''/time, and should be distinguished from the " Propagation Speed " (which depends on the transmission medium and has the usual physical meaning).


PREFIXES

For large bitrates, SI Prefix es are used:

When describing bitrates, Binary Prefix es have almost never been used and SI Prefix es are almost always used with the standard, decimal meanings, not the old computer-oriented binary meanings. Binary usage may occasionally be seen when the unit is the byte/s, and is not typical for telecommunication links. Sometimes it is necessary to seek clarification of the units used in a particular context.


PROGRESS TRENDS


Looking at the development of transmission speeds, Moore's Law may be applied not only to transistor densities, but as well as to transmission speeds: bitrates doubled about every 18 months.

Improvement in applied bitrates :

Proposed standards and first devices :


BITRATES IN MULTIMEDIA

In digital multimedia, bitrate represents the amount of information, or detail, that is stored per unit of time of a recording. The bitrate depends on several factors:
  • the original material may be sampled at different frequencies

  • the samples may use different numbers of bits

  • the data may be encoded by different schemes

  • the information may be digitally Compressed by different algorithms or to different degrees

  • Generally, choices are made about the above factors in order to achieve the desired trade-off between minimizing the bitrate and maximizing the quality of the material when it is played.


If Lossy Data Compression is used on audio or visual data, differences from the original signal will be introduced; if the compression is substantial, or lossy data is decompressed and recompressed, this may become noticeable in the form of Compression Artifacts . Whether these affect the perceived quality, and if so how much, depends on the compression scheme, encoder power, the characteristics of the input data, the listener’s perceptions, the listener's familiarity with artifacts, and the listening or viewing environment.

The bitrates in this section are approximately the ''minimum'' that the ''average'' listener in a typical listening or viewing environment, when using the best available compression, would perceive as not significantly worse than the reference standard:



Audio (MP3)

  • 32 kbit/s — MW ( AM ) quality

  • 96 kbit/s — FM quality

  • 128–160 kbit/s — Near CD quality; difference can sometimes be obvious

  • 192 kbit/s — Good quality; difference can be heard by only a few

  • 224–320 kbit/s — High, near Transparent , quality



Other audio



Video (MPEG2)

  • 16 kbit/s — Videophone quality (minimum necessary for a consumer-acceptable "talking head" picture)

  • 128 – 384 kbit/s — business-oriented Videoconferencing system quality

  • 1 Mbit/s — VHS quality

  • 5 Mbit/s — DVD quality

  • 15 Mbit/s — HDTV quality

  • 36 Mbit/s — HD DVD quality

  • 54 Mbit/s — Blu-ray Disc quality



Notes

For technical reasons (hardware/software protocols, overheads, encoding schemes, etc.) the ''actual'' bitrates used by some of the compared-to devices may be significantly higher than what is listed above. For example:
  • Telephone circuits using µlaw or A-law Companding (pulse code modulation) — 64 kbit/s

  • CDs using CDDA — 1.4 Mbit/s



REFERENCES


Maximum PC - Do Higher MP3 Bit Rates Pay Off?


SEE ALSO




EXTERNAL LINKS


Bandwidth conversion

Allow easy conversion from kbit/s to MB/h to GB/day to TB/month to ...


Bandwidth calculator online



Bitrates of DVB-S TV and radio channels

  • Linowsat - daily updated audio and video bitrates of European satellites.