字节码（英语：Bytecode）通常指的是已经经过编译，但与特定机器码无关，需要解释器转译后才能成为机器码的中间代码。字节码通常不像源码一样可以让人阅读，而是编码后的数值常量、引用、指令等构成的串行。

字节码主要为了实现特定软件运行和软件环境、与硬件环境无关。字节码的实现方式是通过编译器和虚拟机。编译器将源码编译成字节码，特定平台上的虚拟机将字节码转译为可以直接运行的指令。字节码的典型应用为Java bytecode。

Bytecode, also known as p-code (portable code), is a form of instruction set designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter. Unlike human-readable source code, bytecodes are compact numeric codes, constants, and references (normally numeric addresses) that encode the result of parsing and semantic analysis of things like type, scope, and nesting depths of program objects. They therefore allow much better performance than direct interpretation of source code.