A unit of information equal to 8 bits, used primarily in telecommunications. In most contexts, this is the same as a byte, but the byte can sometimes vary in size while the octet is always exactly 8 bits
Russ Rowlett (Director), How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement, Center for Mathematics and Science Education University of North Carolina, USA 2005. http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictA.html, (Unit of Meas and Covr Factors - Amer) {608}