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16-bit means using words containing sixteen bits. This adjective often refers to the number of bits used internally by a computer's CPU. E.g. "The Intel 8086 is a sixteen-bit processor". Its external
data bus or address bus may be
narrower. The term may also refer to the size of an instruction in the computer's instruction set or to any other item of
data.
The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits is 0 through 65535, or -32768 through 32767 using two's complement
coding.
See also: 16-bit application, 16-bit era, 32-bit, 32-bit application, 64-bit
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