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Bit
A single numeric character. 1 binary digit 1 bit.
One mathematical bit can define two levels or states, on/off, black/white, etc.; two bits can define four levels, three bits eight, and so on. In image terms eight bits can define 256 shades of gray between black and white.
Each bit of a binary number can either be 0 or 1. An n-bit number is composed of exactly n numeric characters. An n-bit binary number can have 2n distinct values. For example, an 8-bit binary number has 28%6 distinct values, namely all the numbers between 00000000 (0 in decimal) and 11111111 (255 in decimal), inclusive. 8-bit quantization would discretely sample a signal and assign each sampling a value between 0 and 255, permitting 256 possible values.
Bit Rate
The amount of data transported in a given amount of time, usually defined in Mega (Million) bits per second (Mbps). Bit rate is one means used to define the amount of compression used on a video signal. Uncompressed D1 has a rate of 270 Mbps. MPEG 1 has a bit rate of 1.2 Mbps.
Bit Packing Density
The number of bits recorded per track length unit, usually expressed in terms of kilobits per inch (KBPI) or bits permillimeter (BPMM).
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.