Binary Flipper

Click the bits below to toggle them between 0 and 1. Watch how the denary total changes!

Hex & Nibble Splitter

A hex digit represents exactly 4 bits (a nibble). Toggle the bits to see how two hex digits make a full 8-bit byte.

Units of Data Storage

The byte is the smallest addressable unit of memory in a computer. Memory size is measured in multiples. A Kilobyte (KB) is 1,000 bytes. This scales up to Megabyte (MB), Gigabyte (GB), Terabyte (TB), and Petabyte (PB).

Sound & Metadata

Sound waves are analogue and have to be stored in a digital format as a series of binary numbers. The sample resolution (bit depth) is the number of bits used to store each sample. The sample rate is the frequency with which you record the amplitude of the sound, measured in Hertz.

Metadata is data about data. For sound files, metadata can include details such as the artist, track title, album, and duration.

Hexadecimal Rules

Hexadecimal (Base 16) uses letters A to F to represent the digits 10 to 15. Every 4 bits (a nibble) directly translates to a single hex digit. 1111 in binary is F in Hex.

Binary Shifts

If a binary number is shifted to the left this is equivalent to multiplying the number by 2 for each shift to the left. Shifting binary numbers to the right has the opposite effect i.e. each shift to the right has the affect of dividing by 2.

Overflow Errors

The biggest number you can represent with 8 bits is 255. If you add two binary numbers together that result in a number bigger than 255, it will need 9 or more bits. A computer stores things in memory in a finite amount of space. If you cannot represent the number in that amount of space because it is too big, then overflow occurs.

Images & Metadata

A vector graphic is made up of lines and shapes with specific properties. A bitmap image is broken down into very small elements called pixels. The number of bits used to store each pixel dictates how many colours an image can contain, referred to as the colour depth.

Metadata is data about data. For images, this often includes the file format, resolution (width x height), colour depth, device used to capture, date/time created, and author.

Compression

Compression is used to reduce the amount of storage needed and allow a file to be transmitted in less time. Lossy compression is where files are compressed by removing some of the detail, which is used for images, audio, and video. Lossless compression means no data is lost, which is an essential factor for text and data files.