Video File Size Calculator:
Bitrate, Storage, Upload and AWS Cost

The universal formula is: File Size (MB) = Video Bitrate (Mbps) x Duration (seconds) / 8. This works because a megabit is 1,000,000 bits, and a byte is 8 bits. Dividing by 8 converts megabits to megabytes. For a complete file, add the audio track: Audio Size (MB) = Audio Bitrate (kbps) x Duration (seconds) / 8,000. A 60-second video at 100 Mbps video bitrate and 192 kbps audio: Video = 100 x 60 / 8 = 750 MB. Audio = 192 x 60 / 8,000 = 1.44 MB. Total = 751.44 MB. This calculator performs this with Big.js fixed-precision arithmetic to avoid floating-point errors that occur with large multiplications.

Mbps stands for megabits per second, the standard unit for video bitrate. It measures how many megabits of data are recorded or transmitted for each second of video. One megabit is 1,000,000 bits, and one byte is 8 bits, so 1 Mbps equals 0.125 megabytes per second (MB/s). A camera recording at 100 Mbps writes 12.5 MB of data to the card every second. Over one hour (3,600 seconds), this produces 45,000 MB or approximately 43.9 GB of raw footage. Confusion often arises because storage capacities are measured in bytes (GB, TB) while network and camera bitrates are measured in bits (Mbps, Gbps). Always divide by 8 to convert between the two.

These four codec categories represent a spectrum of compression: heavily compressed (H.264) through minimally compressed (RAW). H.264 at 8 Mbps uses temporal compression, where each frame is encoded relative to the frames before and after it rather than independently, achieving very high compression ratios but requiring intensive computation to decode. H.265 achieves similar quality at roughly half the bitrate of H.264. ProRes is an intra-frame codec (each frame encoded independently) at much higher bitrates (40 to 1,487 Mbps), making it faster to edit and better for color grading. RAW formats preserve the sensor’s raw photosite data before any demosaicing or color science is applied, at the highest possible bitrates, giving colorists the most data to work with in post. Choosing the right codec for your workflow depends on whether you prioritize storage efficiency, editability, or maximum post-production flexibility.

At common 4K bitrates: Instagram / TikTok quality (3.5 Mbps) = 1.6 GB per hour. H.265 streaming (15 Mbps) = 6.75 GB. YouTube 4K recommended (50 Mbps) = 22.5 GB. Sony FX3 XAVC-S (100 Mbps) = 45 GB. ProRes 422 4K (541 Mbps) = 243 GB. ProRes HQ 4K (826 Mbps) = 371 GB. ProRes 4444 XQ 4K (1,487 Mbps) = 662 GB. ARRIRAW 4.5K (3,200 Mbps) = 1.41 TB. These numbers span a 883:1 range from streaming delivery to cinema RAW capture. Use this calculator’s camera preset dropdown to quickly find the size for your specific camera model and recording mode.

The Federal Communications Commission updated its definition of broadband internet in March 2024 to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, raising the minimum threshold from the 2015-era 25/3 Mbps standard. The upload speed is particularly relevant for video workflows. At 20 Mbps, a 50GB file takes 5.5 hours to upload. Many US residential and small business connections still fall below the FCC’s new 20 Mbps upload standard, particularly in rural and suburban areas, as documented in the FCC’s National Broadband Map. This calculator displays upload times at the FCC 20 Mbps standard, at 100 Mbps (typical US fiber), and at 1 Gbps (enterprise) so you can plan realistic transfer windows for your actual connection speed rather than theoretical maximums.

AWS S3 Standard storage in the us-east-1 region costs $0.023 per GB per month as of 2025. A 1TB archive costs $23.55 per month. A 10TB archive costs $235.52 per month. For long-term cold storage, AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive costs $0.00099 per GB per month, reducing a 10TB archive to $10.14 per month. This calculator shows the S3 Standard monthly cost for your computed file size automatically. AWS also charges small per-request fees and data transfer fees when retrieving files; the S3 Standard storage rate shown in this calculator covers storage only. Full AWS pricing is published at aws.amazon.com/s3/pricing. Many US post-production facilities negotiate enterprise pricing with AWS or use Backblaze B2 ($0.006/GB/month) as a cost-effective alternative for large archives.

An uncompressed video file stores the complete pixel data for every frame without any mathematical compression. For 1080p 8-bit 4:2:0 at 30fps, uncompressed bitrate is 1920 x 1080 x 1.5 bytes per pixel x 8 bits x 30fps = 746 Mbps, producing 336 GB per hour. For 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 at 30fps, the uncompressed bitrate is 5,971 Mbps, producing 2.69 TB per hour. These numbers show why every video production codec exists: no practical workflow can handle or store uncompressed 4K data without specialized hardware. The compression ratio column in this calculator shows how dramatically each codec reduces the uncompressed data volume, from 93:1 for H.264 to 1.9:1 for ARRIRAW, putting the file size in practical context.

Audio typically contributes between 0.1 and 3 percent of the total file size for video files at professional bitrates. For a 1-hour file at 100 Mbps video, AAC 192 kbps audio adds 86.4 MB out of a 45 GB total (about 0.19 percent). The audio contribution becomes more significant for long-duration, low-bitrate files. For a 24-hour ambient recording at 3.5 Mbps video, uncompressed PCM 24-bit stereo audio at 4,608 kbps would add 49.8 GB of audio versus 37.8 GB of video, making audio the larger component. For most production planning, audio is a rounding consideration. But for precise storage planning on very long recordings or multi-channel audio productions, accurate audio bitrate inclusion is essential. This calculator always includes audio in its total file size output.

BRAW (Blackmagic RAW) is a RAW recording format developed by Blackmagic Design for their Pocket Cinema Cameras, URSA, and Pyxis lines. It is a sensor-level RAW format that compresses the raw photosite data using a combination of wavelet compression and a software decoder, offering ratios of 3:1, 8:1, and 12:1. BRAW 3:1 on the BMPCC 6K G2 records at approximately 768 Mbps, producing about 346 GB per hour. BRAW 12:1 records at approximately 192 Mbps, producing about 86 GB per hour. In color science terms, BRAW is closer to ProRes RAW in that it preserves demosaicing information for grading, giving more flexibility than ProRes 422 but less post-processing flexibility than ARRIRAW. In file size terms, BRAW 8:1 falls between ProRes 422 and ProRes HQ.

Cards needed = ceiling(Total File Size / Usable Card Capacity). Usable capacity is typically 90 to 93 percent of rated capacity due to formatting overhead and file system metadata. A 256GB card stores approximately 220 to 230 GB of video data. A 512GB card stores approximately 460 to 470 GB. This calculator estimates cards needed using 95 percent of rated capacity as a conservative figure. For production planning, always round up by at least one card and keep a spare formatted card available. For cameras with CFexpress Type B cards (required for most RAW and ProRes modes), check the camera manufacturer’s card compatibility list, since not all CFexpress cards support the sustained write speeds required for high-bitrate recording.

YouTube accepts video files up to 256 GB or up to 12 hours in duration, whichever is smaller, for verified accounts. Unverified accounts are limited to 15-minute videos. The recommended maximum video bitrate for 4K (2160p) content per YouTube’s published encoding settings is 35 to 68 Mbps for SDR and 44 to 85 Mbps for HDR. For 1080p content, YouTube recommends 8 to 12 Mbps. YouTube re-encodes all uploaded video to its own delivery profile, so uploading at a higher bitrate than YouTube’s recommendation provides no visible quality benefit to viewers. For 4K uploads, YouTube recommends H.264 or HEVC encoding before upload; MPEG-2 and other older codecs are supported but not recommended. YouTube’s full encoding recommendations are published at support.google.com/youtube.

Constant bitrate (CBR) encoding writes the same number of bits per second throughout the video, regardless of scene complexity. A 10 Mbps CBR file is always exactly 10 Mbps, making file size calculation simple and predictable. Variable bitrate (VBR) encoding allocates more bits to complex scenes (fast motion, fine detail) and fewer bits to simple scenes (slow pans, solid backgrounds), using the average bitrate over time rather than a fixed rate. The same 10 Mbps VBR file might spike to 15 Mbps during action and drop to 6 Mbps during a wide establishing shot. This calculator uses the specified bitrate as a constant rate. For VBR files, use the average bitrate (commonly shown as the mean bitrate in MediaInfo or similar tools) to get an accurate size estimate. YouTube, Instagram, and most streaming platforms use VBR for their delivery format.

Calculate the file size for one camera for the full shoot duration using this calculator. Then multiply by the number of camera channels running simultaneously. For example, a 3-camera 4K ProRes HQ shoot across an 8-hour day: one camera at ProRes HQ (826 Mbps) for 8 hours produces 2,964 GB (approximately 2.9 TB). Three cameras in parallel produce 8.9 TB. For productions where cameras run at different times rather than simultaneously, calculate each camera’s total rolling time separately and sum them. Add 20 to 30 percent overhead to your total calculation for camera test clips, false starts, safety takes, and media that gets flagged and retained but not used in editorial. The final archive should include all camera original media, not just selects.

For long-term archival of professionally graded content, ProRes 4444 or ProRes 4444 XQ is the recommended format because it preserves the full 4:4:4 chroma information and supports an embedded alpha channel, making it compatible with any future compositing or re-edit workflow. ProRes HQ is the most common professional archive format for drama, documentary, and commercial work that does not require alpha channels, providing a practical balance of file size and quality retention. Apple’s documentation specifies that ProRes formats are designed for multigenerational editing, meaning a file can be decoded and re-encoded in ProRes multiple times without significant quality degradation. For distribution masters going to US broadcasters, the commonly required formats are ProRes 4444 XQ or ProRes HQ at the broadcaster’s specified resolution and frame rate. Netflix’s IMF delivery specification requires a separate mastering workflow; consult Netflix’s partner portal for current technical delivery specifications.

The Internet Archive is a San Francisco-based nonprofit digital library that provides permanent, free storage for digital media released under open licenses or into the public domain. The Archive accepts video uploads in formats including H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, MOV, and AVI, and automatically creates multiple derivative formats for browser playback. For documentary filmmakers, independent journalists, educators, and researchers, the Internet Archive at archive.org offers an alternative to commercial cloud storage that guarantees perpetual access without monthly fees, provided the content qualifies under their collection policies. The Archive does not replace 3-2-1 backup for production originals, but it serves as an excellent public-facing distribution and preservation layer for finished works intended for broad access. Files uploaded to the Archive become publicly accessible and are subject to the Internet Archive’s terms of service.

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