Difference between Bit Rate and Baud Rate

BIT RATE as the name indicates, it is the number of bits ( binary 0’s or 1’s ) transmitted per second. Its value is expressed in terms of bits per second or bps. It indicates the speed of data transmission.

For eg. if the bit rate is 9600bps, it implies that 9600 bits ( binary 0’s or 1’s ) are transmitted per second.

While BAUD RATE is the number of signal or symbol changes that occur per second, ie number of transitions per second.

In the case of UART, binary 1 is indicated by a HIGH pulse while binary 0 is indicated by a LOW pulse. So the bit rate and baud rate are same in the case of UART communication.

But in some systems, binary 1 may be indicated by a LOW to HIGH transition  and binary 0 by HIGH to LOW transition. In such cases baud rate will be higher than that of bit rate.