What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit operating system?

today’s PCs come in two varieties: those running a32-bit operating system and those running a64-bit operating system.
the difference is the amount of information the PC’s processor can handle at any precise moment.
while a computer designed for a64-bit operating system has vastly more potential computing power, it requires fundamental changes to the way its software is designed.
the word "bit" refers to the way computers deal with information in binary, where all data is listed as a string of digits which can either be a0 or a1.
each of these digits is known as one bit, meaning a32-bit processor can process32 digits at once.
don’t confuse this with memory, which measures the total amount of information a computer can remember without needing to use a storage device such as a disk.
while the figure for memory will be much bigger, a computer can’t process all of that information at once.
the software for a computer with a32-bit processor, including operating systems such as Windows, has to be specifically written to match that processor.
the same applies to64-bit processors.
microsoft produced32-bit and64-bit editions of Windows XP and Vista, and will do the same for Windows7.
there are also some significant mathematical limits to the two different types of processor.
a32-bit processor can only work with a maximum of4GB of memory, and this is usually limited to2GB for any one program.
a64-bit processor could theoretically work with17 billion GB of memory.
a64-bit processor can also carry out some tasks twice as quickly.
the memory limitations of a32-bit processor started to become clear with Vista, which uses a large amount of memory and can make it difficult to run multiple programs at once without using up even a full4GB of memory.
meanwhile, it once seemed impossible that any one program would need more than2GB of memory, but some modern video games have hit that limit.
For these reasons,64-bit processors will likely start to become much more popular, which will increase the number of consumers interested in buying a64-bit operating system.
the64-bit editions of Windows can run some software designed for the32-bit edition through a special compatibility mode, but the results can be very varied.
using a64-bit operating system can also cause problems with drivers.
these are small pieces of software that coordinate each hardware device with an operating system such as Windows.

64Bit In computer architecture, 64-bit computing is the use of processors that have data path widths, integer size, and memory addresses of 64 bits (eight octets) wide.
Also, 64-bit CPU and ALU architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size.
From the software perspective, 64-bit computing means the use of code with 64-bit virtual memory addresses.
The term 64-bit is a descriptor given to a generation of computers in which 64-bit processors are the norm.
64 bits is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them.
64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s (Cray-1, 1975) and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s, notably the DEC Alpha, Sun Ultras ARC, Fujitsu SPARC64 and IBM PowerPC-AS.
In 2003 they were introduced to the (previously 32-bit) mainstream personal computer arena in the form of the x86-64 and 64-bitPowerPC processor architectures and later in 2012[1] even in processors that were before mainly considered only as part of embedded systems with the introduction of the AArch64 processor architectures in ARMv8.
A 64-bit register can store 264 (over 18 quintillion) different values.
Hence, a processor with 64-bit memory addresses can directly access 264 bytes (=16 exbi bytes) of byte-addressable memory.
32Bit x86-64 (also known as x64) is a 64-bit extension of IA-32, the 32-bit generation of the x86 instruction set.
It supports vastly larger amounts of virtual memory and memory than is possible on IA-32, allowing programs to store larger amounts of data in memory.
x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other enhancements.
The original specification was created by AMD, and has been implemented by AMD, Intel, VIA, and others.
It is fully backwards compatible with 16-bit and 32-bit x86 code.[1](p13-14) Because the full x86 16-bit and 32-bit instruction sets remain implemented in hardware without any intervening emulation, existing x86 executables run with no compatibility or performance penalties,[2] whereas existing applications that are recoded to take advantage of new features of the processor design may achieve performance improvements.

Here is some major differences- - A32bit OS can allocate maximum4GB of RAM where as a64bit OS can allocate up to17.2 Billion GB of RAM (which is almost unlimited in a sense).
- All32 bit applications (with few exceptions) can run in both32 &64 bit OS but a64bit application cannot run on32 bit OS.
- Instead of2GB limit of virtual memory in32bit OS, the64 bit OS can allocate8TB of RAM without any special API.
This is a huge benefit for video editing, creating virtual machines or creating animations.
There are several benefits of using64bit over32bit, but these are the major.
Beside these we are going to loose some popular software that runs on16bit OS.

64-bit version of OS handles large amounts of RAM more effectively than a 32-bit system.
and Microsoft Win32 uses the x86 processor in 32-bit flat mode.
Therefore, a x86-based version means a 32-bit version operating system.

32 bit means 4 byte,and 64 means 8 byte.it is simple more bit accept more data with fasting speed.it is the latest technology comes in corei3 and laters processors,windows 64 bit also support more ram than 2 gb.

The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system On a 64-bit system, you can install as much RAM as you can to cover your overhead

32 bit operating systems will run fine on 64 bit processors.
When you are running a 64 bit OS you can access a LOT more memory, as well as a few additional system calls that are available on 64 bit processors.
The main advantage, however, is the increased memory that is accessible.
A 32 bit OS has a 4GB memory limit, because of the way it manages memory, the "real" limit is around 3GB to 3.5 GB depending on the specific hardware

A 32-bit Windows is able to use more than 4GB of RAM assuming that both Windows and the Processor support PAE (Physical Address Extension).
In this situation Windows will still show “4GB” of RAM but create additional paging tables into the rest of the physical Memory.But When using 4GB RAM with a 32bit Windows there will only be 2.7 to 3.2GB available, the rest is reserved for Hardware.

in simply if you are driving a car in a high way with on track and a slow car befor you, is this good or a high way with two track or more? in our case processor have many tracks of outputting processed data which can get out 32bit in a time (slow) or 64bit in a time (faster)

The terms 32-bit and 64-bit refer to the way a computer's processor (also called a CPU), handles information.
The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system.

The32 bit Windows operating system is the most common version of Windows sold throughout the world.
It can be run on most home computers, laptops, and office systems.
It is the version that is run on most computers throughout the world as most systems are store bought systems that perform routine tasks and can do most operations.
A typical processor such as ones by Intel or AMD is behind the computations and is able to run this version of Windows.
The64 bit Windows operating system is an entirely different operating system that is focused on higher end processor and is mean to handle more difficult tasks.
The64 bit version of Windows handles high amounts of computations and requires a special higher end processor that is capable of running these calculations and processes.
Most systems that require this64 bit version of Windows require CAD drawings, video editing, audio editing, and server applications versus normal home operations.
Typically, these systems will have large amounts of system RAM and hard drive space along with a more expensive graphics card that can power these types of operations.
A typical home user won’t need the64 bit version of Windows at home unless they perform these types oftasks mentioned