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This article is to share with you what a word length means in a computer. The editor thinks it is very practical, so share it with you as a reference and follow the editor to have a look.

A word length of a computer is the "binary bit length" of data processed by a computer in parallel, and it is an important index to measure computing performance. Word length is always an integral multiple of 8, usually 16-bit (early), 32-bit, 64-bit on PC.

The computer uses binary coding to represent numbers, characters, instructions and other control information. When a computer is stored, transmitted, or operated, a set of binary codes as a unit is called a word, and the number of bits in a word is called a word length.

Word length is one of the main technical specifications of CPU, which refers to the number of binary digits that CPU can process in parallel at one time, the word length is always an integer multiple of 8, usually the word length of PC is 16 bits (early), 32 bits, 64 bits.

A CPU that handles 8-bit data is usually called an 8-bit CPU,32-bit CPU, which processes 32-bit binary data at the same time. Each 0 or 1 of the binary is the smallest unit that makes up the binary, called a bit. The commonly used word lengths are 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits, and 64 bits. A code with a word length of 8 bits is called a byte and is the basic coding unit in a computer.

The word length has a great relationship with the function and use of the computer, and it is an important technical index of the computer. Word length directly reflects the calculation accuracy of a computer. in order to meet different requirements and coordinate the relationship between operation accuracy and hardware cost, most computers support variable word length operation. that is, half-word-length, full-word-length (or single-word-length) and double word-length operations can be realized in the machine. Other indicators are the same, the larger the word length, the faster the computer can process the data. The word length of early microcomputers was generally 8-bit and 16-bit, while 386 and higher processors were mostly 32-bit. Most of the computers on the market have 64-bit processors. The word length is determined by the total number of data lines of the external data path of the microprocessor.

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