Bandwidth vs Bit Rate: What's the Difference?

[James889]

Hi,

I never really understood this. What are the differences between bandwidth and bit rate ?
I understand that they describe the same thing, yet are completely different.
How are these related?

 

[martix]

Bandwidth is the channel through which the bit rate flows. (The bit rate cannot exceed the bandwidth.)
If you find the answer is vague, it is because the question is also similarly vague.

 

[Evo]

If you are referring to bandwith for data transmission (internet for example), the definition below is correct.

Bandwidth - The amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. For digital devices, the bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second(bps) or bytes per second. For analog devices, the bandwidth is expressed in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz).

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/bandwidth.html

 

[DaleSwanson]

They both measure the same thing, data/time. In common usage, bandwidth is used for networking, and bit rate is used for media (video/audio). This is just the tendency, you can find counter examples of both.