Byte - GCSE Computer Science Definition

A byte is a fundamental unit of digital information used in computing and telecommunications, essential knowledge for GCSE Computer Science students. It is typically composed of eight bits, where a bit is the smallest unit of data, representing a binary value of either 0 or 1. A byte can therefore store 256 different values (from 0 to 255), enabling it to represent various data types such as a single character in text. Understanding bytes is crucial for grasping how computers process, store, and manipulate information, since they form the building blocks for more complex data structures and storage measurements, such as kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes.