databits

Databits represent binary information as either 0 or 1. They are the building blocks of digital data and combine to form larger units such as nibbles, bytes, and words. The term is often contrasted with control bits or parity bits that accompany data frames to support synchronization and error checking.

In most computing and storage, a byte is eight databits. Some systems use different lengths for a byte or character, such as 7 data bits with a parity bit. Older text modes used 5 or 6 data bits.

In serial communication, a data frame includes data bits plus optional parity, start and stop bits; the number of data bits per character is specified in configuration. Common configurations include 8 data bits with no parity (8N1) and 7 data bits with even parity (7E1).

In data storage and encoding, databits appear as part of larger blocks; in ASCII, 7 bits were used originally. Modern encodings such as UTF-8 use bytes as units of data, with varying bit patterns representing characters. Parity bits or error-correcting codes may accompany databits in channels and memory to detect errors.

See also: Bit, Byte, Parity, Serial communication, Data encoding.