What is Bitstream?

A bitstream is a stream of data (bits). A bitstream may refer to the transmission — or storage — of this data. The term bitstream is commonly used to describe the data loaded on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). A bitstream for an FPGA miner configures the FPGA to mine the coin or algorithm it was designed to mine. By downloading a different bitstream, it's possible to reconfigure the coin or algorithm the FPGA miner is optimized for.