Bit-depth is a numeric parameter specifying the number of quantization levels used to represent each sample in a digital audio signal. The parameter is an integer N; the number of discrete amplitude levels is 2^N, and the theoretical signal-to-quantization-noise ratio is approximately 6.02·N + 1.76 dB. Persistence mechanism: stored as a fixed metadata field in the audio file format header or stream container, determining the resolution of all subsequent samples. [formal: bit-depth | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
bit-depth
Bit-depth is a numeric parameter specifying the number of quantization levels used to represent each sample in a digital audio signal. The parameter is an integer N; the number of discrete amplitude levels is 2^N, and the theoretical signa…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made digital audio parameter specifying the number of bits used to represent each sample value in a digital audio signal, built to persist in audio file formats, ADC/DAC specifications, and digital audio processing pipelines.
Names and aliases
- bit-depthen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmsnet9gh03q31q131146onk3DERIVED_FROM →
Quantization as a concept predates the specific parameter bit-depth; bit-depth is the numerical parameterization of quantization resolution. Which came first? Quantization (the general concept of mapping continuous values to discrete levels) existed before the specific parameter bit-depth was introduced to specify how many levels.
- cmsnet9gh03q31q131146onk3DEPENDS_ON →
bit-depth as an audio concept specifies the number of quantization levels (2^N amplitude steps). Remove the concept of quantization and bit-depth loses its entire meaning in audio — it is the parameter that defines quantization fineness. This is a genuine present-tense dependency: the concept of bit-depth operates only in the context of quantization.
- signal-samplingDEPENDS_ON →
Pinned senses: bit-depth as the numeric parameter N specifying 2^N quantization levels per SAMPLE (its accepted definition: 'the number of quantization levels used to represent each sample in a digital audio signal'); signal-sampling as the practice whose product is the discrete sample sequence itself (its accepted definition: converting a continuous-time signal into a discrete sequence by measuring amplitude at uniform time instants). Directional test (Law 8b, removal now): remove signal-sampling from the chain and there is no discrete sample sequence — 'each sample' has no referent, so the parameter N has no unit to attach to: bits-per-what? It cannot be instantiated, stored in a format header, or evaluated as 6.02N+1.76 dB. Bit-depth stops OPERATING, not merely becoming unsayable — this is a referential dependency on the target's product, not a conceptual-framework appeal. Not identity (Law 8c): sampling is not a kind-term of bit-depth, which is a parameter of the sampled signal, not a kind of sampling. Consistent with the accepted sibling edge bit-depth DEPENDS_ON quantization, which anchors the definition's other ingredient (the quantization levels); this edge anchors the sample ingredient.
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Record identity
- Created
- Aug 16, 2026, 2:55 PM UTC
- Content hash
- ff832923a1195456b1654fea9ffecc9430b77f89806721f38af370ff12e9dab7