Baud to Bitrate Calculator

How it is calculated

The tool multiplies the symbol rate by the number of bits each symbol carries: bit rate = baud × b. Baud is the number of symbols per second and b is bits per symbol, which for a scheme with M distinct signal states is b = log₂ M (2 states give 1, 4 give 2, 16 give 4, 64 give 6). The baud rate cannot be negative and bits per symbol must be at least 1; smaller values return no result. The product is rounded to a whole number and shown in bit/s. It is the raw rate on the line: error-correction overhead, framing and protocol headers are not subtracted, so the usable data rate is lower.

Common mistakes

• Treating baud and bit/s as the same thing; they are equal only when each symbol carries a single bit.
• Entering the number of signal states (16) in the bits-per-symbol field instead of its logarithm (4); that gives a rate four times too high.
• Quoting the result as the speed users will see: coding overhead, headers and retransmissions reduce the real throughput.
• Using the formula for a UART where each byte carries start and stop bits — those extra bits count in the line rate but not in the data.
• Entering bits per symbol below 1; the tool needs at least one bit per symbol and returns no result otherwise.