Question

How many bits are absolutly necessary to store an ASCII character?

• A. 7
• B. 8
• C. 16
• D. 15

Answer 1

The correct option is B 8

7 bits are absolutely necessary to store an ASCII character.

An ASCII character in 8-bit ASCII encoding is 8 bits (1 byte), though it can fit in 7 bits.

ASCIIis a 7-bit code, representing 128 different characters. When an ASCII character is stored in a byte the most significant bit is always zero.