What Does Bit Rot Mean?
Bit rot is a perennial problem in IT also known as data degradation, data decay, or data rot. In general, bit rot happens when storage media or processing hardware ages through the process of gradual wear.
Techopedia Explains Bit Rot
An important thing to note is that bit rot happens, in some form or another, to nearly all media. It happens to different media in different ways. In the earliest storage media, paper punch cards, “rot” was physical. The data stored on the punch cards “rotted” as the physical cards deteriorated.