Bandwidth

In website hosting, the term "bandwidth" is often used to describe the amount of data transferred to or from the website or server within a prescribed period of time. Another more specific phrase used for this meaning of bandwidth is monthly data transfer.

Web hosting companies often quote a monthly bandwidth limit for a website, for example 500 gigabytes per month. If the total amount of data downloaded from the website in a particular month reaches this limit, the hosting company may shut off further public access to the site.

When a website grows in popularity or exceeds its bandwidth limits, webmasters may reduce bandwidth usage by employing bandwidth optimization techniques.