What is "bitstream"

n. (context computing English) A stream of bits.

A bitstream or bit stream is a sequence of bits.

A bytestream is a sequence of bytes. Typically, each byte is from a range of 256 distinct values ( octets), and so the term octet stream is sometimes used to refer to the same thing. An octet may be encoded as a sequence of 8 bits in multiple different ways (see endianness) so there is no unique and direct translation between bytestreams and bitstreams. In practice, bitstreams are not used directly to encode bytestreams; a communication channel may use a signalling method that does not directly translate to bits (for instance, by transmitting signals of multiple frequencies) and typically also encodes other information such as framing and error correction together with its data.

Bitstreams and bytestreams are used extensively in telecommunications and computing: for example, the SDH communications technology transports synchronous bitstreams, and the TCP communications protocol transports a byte stream without synchronous timing.

A bitstream is a series of bits in a computing or telecommunications system.

Bitstream may also refer to:

• Bitstream Inc., a type foundry
• Bitstream (DAC), a 1-bit digital-to-analogue converter