Baud Rate Calculator

Work out baud rate instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Baud Rate Calculator

Baud is symbols per second while bit rate is bits per second; they are equal only when each symbol carries one bit, as in plain UART signalling. Frame overhead then reduces useful throughput: 8 data bits in a 10-bit frame means 115,200 baud delivers 11,520 bytes per second.

Formula

Baud and throughput

baud = bit rate / bits per symbol; throughput = bit rate x data bits / frame bits / 8

Worked example

With the default values below, Baud Rate Calculator returns Symbol rate of 115,200.0. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Bit rate: 115,200 bit/s
Bits per symbol: 1 bits
Data bits per frame: 8 bits
Start, stop and parity bits: 2 bits

Results

Symbol rate: 115,200.0 baud
Useful data throughput: 11,520.0 byte/s
Frame efficiency: 80.00% %
Bit time: 8.68 µs

Step by step

1Values used
2Baud and throughput
3Symbol rate= 115,200.0 baud
4Useful data throughput= 11,520.0 byte/s
5Frame efficiency= 80.00 %
6Bit time= 8.68 µs

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are baud and bps the same thing?

Only for binary signalling. Modems and modern links pack several bits into each symbol, so bit rate can be many times the baud rate.

Why does a UART frame have 10 bits?

One start bit, eight data bits and one stop bit. Adding parity makes 11, cutting efficiency from 80% to about 73%.