Bits Per Second

What Does Bits Per Second Mean?

Bits per second (bps) is a measure used to show the average rate at which data is transferred between a computer and a data transmission system. The bit rate is generally measured in bits per second (bps) and sometimes bytes per second (Bps).

Techopedia Explains Bits Per Second

Bits per second is the standard measure of bit rate speed. However, millions of bits can be transferred in a second and measuring in single bit units can be cumbersome. To simplify data transfer rates, an International System of Units prefix is used. These include kilo, mega and giga.

Related Reading

Understanding Bits, Bytes and Their Multiples
How to Get Windows 10 Features in Windows 8.1

Margaret Rouse

Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ??a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

All Articles by Margaret Rouse