bandwidth

(1) Capacity or time. Computer people sometimes use the term very broadly. For example, "there's not enough bandwidth around here to get the job done" means there's not enough extra time or people. Its true meaning follows.

(2) The transmission capacity of an electronic pathway such as a communications line, computer bus or computer channel. In a digital line, it is measured in bits per second or bytes per second (see Mb/sec). In an analog channel or in a digital channel that is wrapped in a carrier frequency, bandwidth is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies and is measured in Hertz (kHz, MHz, GHz). See traffic shaping, video bandwidth and bandwidth junkie.

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