What is the Difference Between a Bit and a Byte?

A bit, short for binary digit, is the smallest unit of measurement used for information storage in computers. A bit is represented by a 1 or a 0 with a value of true or false, sometimes expressed as on or off. Eight bits form a single byte of information, also known as an octet. The difference between a bit and a byte is size, or the amount of information stored.
For example, it takes 8 bits (1 byte) to store a single character. The capital letter “A” is expressed digitally as 01000001. A small case “a” is represented in binary code as 01100001. Notice the third bit is different in each octet. By rearranging the bits within the octet, a byte is capable of producing 256 unique combinations to form letters, numbers, special characters and symbols.
It can get confusing keeping units of storage straight, but it can help for people to remember that the smaller word is the smaller unit of storage. This also helps people to remember the difference between greater units, such as the kilobit and kilobyte.
A kilobit is 1,000 bits, though in the binary system, it is designated as 1024 bits due to the amount of space required to store a kilobit using common operating systems and storage schemes. For simplicity, however, most people think of kilo as referring to 1,000 to more easily remember what a kilobit is. A kilobyte then, would be 1,000 bytes.