Byte addressing Byte addressing Byte addressing refers to hardware architectures which support accessing individual bytes of data rather than only larger units called words, which would be "word-addressable". Such computers are sometimes called "byte machines" (in contrast to "word machines"). The basic unit of digital storage is called a bit, storing a single 0 or 1. Many common architectures can address more than 8 bits of data at a time. For example, the Intel 386SX processor can handle 16-bit (two-byte) data, since data is transferred over a 16-bit bus. However, data in memory may be of various lengths. A 64-bit architecture machine
Packed pixel Packed pixel In packed pixel or chunky framebuffer organization, the bits defining each pixel are grouped together. For example, if there are 16 bits per pixel, each pixel is represented in two consecutive (contiguous) 8-bit bytes in the framebuffer (a.k.a. screen buffer). If there are 4 bits per pixel (16 colors), each frame buffer byte defines two pixels, one in each nibble. The latter example is as opposed to storing perhaps half of the bits—2 bits—for each of four pixels in one byte and the other two bits for each of those four pixels in another byte or bytes. It