The number of bits allocated to represent the intensity of a signal. For example:
- Amplitude of audio samples
- brightness of pixels for images
Typically used in the context of audio and image processing.
The more larger the bit depth, the more bits can be used to describe the intervals of the signal intensity. In other words, the more bits there are, the finer-grained the representation is. Perceptually, this affects the dynamic range of the resulting audio or image.
Note
A related term that is used more broadly in computing is bit width.