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Bytów ) is a town in the Middle Pomerania region of northwestern Poland with 17,700 inhabitants.

It is also the capital of Bytów County in Pomeranian Voivodship (since 1999), previously in Słupsk Voivodship (1975-1998).

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The first settlement at the location of Bytów probably developed in the 13th century, while the earliest written mention is from 1321 under Polish overlordship. The Teutonic Order took the town in 1335 and began construction of a rectory. Bytów received city rights on 12 July 1346. The town alternated between Poland and the Teutonic Knights during their wars, and returned to Polish control after the Second Peace of Toruń in 1466.

In 1627 during the Thirty Years War Bytów was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire. To gain an ally against Sweden during the Deluge, in 1657 King John II Casimir of Poland gave Bytów and Lębork to Margrave Frederick William of BrandenburgDucal Prussia as a hereditary fief in the Treaty of Bydgoszcz. Although Poland still retained sovereignty, Bytów was administered by Brandenburg and, after 1701, by the Kingdom of Prussia. During the 18th century, the town suffered from fires and plague.

In 1773 during the Partitions of Poland, Polish sovereignty over Bytów was abandoned and the town was wholly incorporated in the Prussian province of Pomerania. From 1846-1945, Bytów was the seat of the Landkreis Bütow district in Prussia and Imperial Germany.

Although Poland desired Bytów at the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles awarded the town to Germany in 1919. The town was occupied by the Red Army during World War II. In 1945 Bytów joined Poland, within which it became the seat of a powiat (1946-1975, 1999-).

Communities in the municipality of Bytów include (German names in i