What is the difference between bits and bytes?

The difference between bits and bytes is that bits are single numeric values that encode single units of digital information, while bytes are sequences of bits, usually eight total bits per one byte. Bits are typically represented by the numbers zero and one.

Networks group all bits into bytes to increase the efficiency of the computer hardware. This includes network equipment and memory. For example, an IP address typically contains 32 bits, or four bytes. Because eight bits equal one byte, 32 bits get grouped into four sets. This grouping together of bits and bytes makes up the computer language known as binary code.