Difference Between Bit Rate And Baud Rate

Bit Rate Vs. Baud Rate: Explore What is the Difference Between Bit Rate and Baud Rate?

The terms Baud Rate and Bit Rate are very commonly used terms in the field of data communication. Here, the Bit rate simply refers to the amount of bits that get transmitted in a second (a bit consists of 0s and 1s). The Baud rate, on the other hand, refers to the amount of signal unit transmissions in a second (that represents those bits). In this article, we will discuss the major difference between Baud rate and Bit rate. We will look into the points on which they vary.

A single change of state leads to transferring of a bit, or maybe slightly less or more than a bit. It relies totally on the technique of modulation (that one may use). The equation given below describes the relationship between both of them:

Bit Rate = Total number of Bits per Baud x Baud Rate

When talking in terms of computational efficiency, Bit rate becomes comparatively more crucial. It happens when we need to know the time that the system takes to completely process any given set of information. In another case, if we want to know how the data moves from one given point to another, then we should focus on their Baud rate. Here, the requirement of fewer signals indicates higher system efficiency and lesser bandwidth requirement for bits transmission.

Let us understand further the difference between these two. We take the case of a bus in transportation. Here, the baud is analogous to the bus and the bit to the passenger. The bus can easily carry various passengers. If a thousand buses with a single passenger (the driver) travel from a given place to another, they would transport a total of 1000 passengers. In a similar way, if each one of the buses carry 20 passengers, then 1000 buses would transport 20000 passengers. In such cases, the buses determine the overall traffic and NOT the total passengers that a consequently broader highway would need. In a very similar way, the total number of bauds indicates the total bandwidth required. They have nothing to do with the total number of bits.