A processing system includes a processor and a physical memory (500) with a single-size memory port (505) for accessing data in the memory. The processor is arranged to operate on data of at least a first data size and a smaller second data size. The first data size is equal to or smaller than the size of memory port. The processing system including at least one data register (514) of the first data size connected to the memory port (505), and at least one data port (525) of the second data size connected to the data register (525) and the processor for enabling access to data elements of the second size.