Baud to Bitrate Calculator

About this calculator

Baud rate measures how many symbols (discrete signal states) are transmitted per second, while bit rate measures how many bits of data get through per second. They're only equal when each symbol carries exactly one bit; more advanced modulation schemes pack multiple bits into each symbol, so bit rate = baud rate × bits per symbol, where bits per symbol = log₂(number of signal states).

This distinction matters to telecommunications and RF engineers choosing a modulation scheme — QPSK carries 2 bits per symbol, 16-QAM carries 4, 64-QAM carries 6 — to squeeze more throughput out of a fixed symbol rate, and it's the reason old dial-up modems and modern digital radios can quote a much higher data rate than their raw signaling speed.