Internal Data Formats The following topics describe the internal formats of Delphi data types.
Integer Types The format of an integer-type variable depends on its minimum and maximum bounds.
If both bounds are within the range 128..127 (Shortint), the variable is stored as a signed byte.
If both bounds are within the range 0..255 (Byte), the variable is stored as an unsigned byte.
If both bounds are within the range 32768..32767 (Smallint), the variable is stored as a signed word.
If both bounds are within the range 0..65535 (Word), the variable is stored as an unsigned word.
If both bounds are within the range 2147483648..2147483647 (Longint), the variable is stored as a signed
double word.
If both bounds are within the range 0..4294967295 (Longword), the variable is stored as an unsigned double
word.
Otherwise, the variable is stored as a signed quadruple word (Int64).