How many bytes is a .txt character?

Answered by Ricardo McCardle

The size of a .txt character is generally 1 byte. Let me explain this in more detail.

In computer systems, characters are represented using a standardized encoding scheme, such as ASCII or Unicode. These encoding schemes assign a unique numerical value to each character. For example, in ASCII, the letter ‘A’ is represented by the decimal value 65.

In a .txt file, each character is stored as a sequence of bits, with each bit representing a binary 0 or 1. Since a byte consists of 8 bits, it can represent 256 different values (2^8 = 256). Therefore, a single byte can store any character within the range of the encoding scheme.

For ASCII encoding, which represents basic characters used in English and many other languages, each character is represented by a single byte. This means that each character in a .txt file takes up 1 byte of disk space.

However, it’s worth noting that there are other encoding schemes, such as Unicode, that allow for a wider range of characters, including those used in various languages and symbols. In Unicode, characters can be represented using multiple bytes. For example, certain characters may require 2 or 3 bytes.

To determine the actual size of a .txt file, you can check its properties in the file explorer. The size listed will be the size of the file on disk, which includes the space occupied by each character.

The size of a .txt character is typically 1 byte, but it can vary depending on the encoding scheme used and the specific character being represented.