Binary is a system of representing information using only two symbols or values, typically represented as 0s and 1s. It is also known as the base-2 number system. In computing, binary is used to represent data or instructions within a computer system, and is fundamental to modern computing as it is used to encode data in storage devices, data processing, and communication between different components of a computer or between computers on a network.
In binary, each digit or bit (short for binary digit) can have a value of either 0 or 1. A sequence of 8 bits is called a byte, which is the standard unit of data used in most modern computers. Binary code is used to represent a wide range of information, such as text, numbers, images, audio, and video, by encoding them as sequences of 0s and 1s.
All operations that are possible in the decimal system (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) are equally possible in the binary system.