Bytehastighet

Bytehastighet is the rate at which data is transferred or processed, measured in bytes per second (B/s). It is used to quantify how quickly information flows in networks, storage systems, and computer memories. The term focuses on the amount of data moved, as opposed to the lower-level unit of bits. Since 1 byte equals 8 bits, Bytehastighet is eight times smaller in numeric value than an equivalent bit rate measured in bits per second when referring to the same data flow.

Common units include B/s, KB/s, MB/s, and GB/s. In practice, there is some ambiguity in prefixes: decimal kB is 1000 bytes, while binary KiB is 1024 bytes. Many contexts still use KB to denote 1024 bytes, but it is best to state the exact unit (e.g., MB/s or MiB/s) to avoid confusion.

Bytehastighet is influenced by overhead from protocols, hardware capabilities, and concurrent traffic, so observed throughput is often lower than the theoretical maximum. It is measured with benchmarking or monitoring tools that report data moved per second, occasionally accounting for retransmissions and latency.

Applications include assessing network links, disk drives, and memory bandwidth. For example, a transfer of 100 MB in 10 seconds yields 10 MB/s. In network engineering, bit rates remain common for describing link speeds, while Bytehastighet provides a direct measure of useful data moved.

See also: throughput, bandwidth, data rate, bit rate, storage I/O.