bit rate

noun

variants or less commonly bit-rate

ˈbit-ˌrāt 

or bitrate

: a measure of the speed of data processing usually calculated as the number of bits per second

MP3 measures compression settings in terms of a file's bit rate—the average number of bits required for one second of sound.

—Jim Heid

Examples of bit rate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Relay’s sonic performance can be tweaked thanks to customizable parameters, which include selectable high/low gain, six digital filter modes and support for variable bit rates that go as high as 32-bit / 768kHz. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025

The inability to change the export bit rate meant that my render speed performance testing of Lightworks wasn’t an entirely fair comparison with the other programs. —PC Magazine, 25 Apr. 2025

Granta’s anti-jamming approach switches to a lower bit rate. —David Hambling, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025

The team goes on to calculate similar bit rates for extreme examples of human information processing. —Michael Irving, New Atlas, 18 Dec. 2024

These are bit rates for the app; the web player sticks you with 128 Kbps and 256 Kbps, respectively. —Matt Jancer, Wired News, 15 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1968, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bit rate

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate