In information theory, a bit per second (b/s) is a unit used to express the number of bits passing a designated point per second. See also telecommunication.

For example, for two-condition serial transmission in a single channel in which each significant condition represents a bit, i.e., a 0 or a 1, the bit rate in bits per second and the baud have the same numerical value only if each bit occurs in a unit interval. In this case, the data signaling rate in bits per second is 1/T, where T is the unit interval.

1. The abbreviation "bps", although commonly used in the press, is not in accordance with international standards, and is therefore depreciated among some.
2. kB/s (with capitalized B) means "kilobyte per second." Sometimes in the press this is written as Kbps.
3. A megabit per second is equal to 1,048,576 (2²⁰) bits per second. It is expressed as "mB/s" or "Mbps."