The most significant byte is the byte in a number that that contributes the most to the value of a number. For example, in the hexadecimal number $5689, $56 is the most significant byte because $5600 is more significant to the value than $0089. Remember that 16-bit numbers can be stored in two bytes. The first byte is the first two digits of the number ($56) and the second the last two digits of the number ($86).

Related Pages

• least significant byte
• little endian
• big endian