bit density

bit density

[′bit ′den·səd·ē] (computer science) Number of bits which can be placed, per unit length, area, or volume, on a storage medium; for example, bits per inch of magnetic tape. Also known as record density.

bit density

The number of binary digits (bits) that can be stored within a given memory or storage area. See bit and bpi.

One Memory Cell
This is one bit in an early 16MB dynamic RAM (DRAM) chip. Although a thousand times less dense compared to today, there were nevertheless 16,777,216 cells in the quarter-inch-square chip. (Image courtesy of IBM.)