01
What decides the size of a minute of video?
Bitrate, almost entirely. Size is roughly bitrate multiplied by duration, so a minute at 8 megabits per second is about 60 megabytes, and a minute at 50 megabits is about 375. Resolution and frame rate matter only through their effect on the bitrate needed.
02
A minute at different data rates
Size is bitrate multiplied by duration, divided by eight to get bytes. Everything else about a file affects size only through the bitrate it demands.
| Bitrate | One minute | One hour |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Mbps | About 37 MB | About 2.2 GB |
| 10 Mbps | About 75 MB | About 4.5 GB |
| 20 Mbps | About 150 MB | About 9 GB |
| 50 Mbps | About 375 MB | About 22 GB |
| 100 Mbps | About 750 MB | About 45 GB |
03
Estimating size before you record
Most cameras and phones list their recording bitrate in the settings or the manual. Multiply that number in megabits per second by the recording length in seconds, then divide by eight to get megabytes. The result is a rough but useful estimate for planning storage and uploads.
For a long session, work out the total before you start. It is better to find out that the card will fill up halfway through before you begin than during the best part of the conversation.
Remember that audio adds a little on top.
04
Why phone videos are so large
Phones record at high bitrates to capture detail in difficult conditions, and many default to 4K at high frame rates. That produces excellent originals and very large files. For talking-head content, a lower setting often looks almost identical and saves a great deal of space.
Check your phone's camera settings and choose a resolution and frame rate that match what you actually publish.
05
Reducing a file you already have
If a recording is too large to upload or store comfortably, exporting a copy with a lower bitrate at the same resolution usually shrinks it considerably. Keep the original until you have confirmed the smaller copy looks acceptable on the screens you care about.
Avoid reducing resolution unless you have to. Detail lost by shrinking the picture cannot be recovered, while a moderate bitrate reduction is often invisible.
06
Size for finished clips
Finished short clips at sensible settings are small enough to move around easily. If a one-minute clip comes out at hundreds of megabytes, the export settings are probably far higher than any platform needs.
Save a preset with reasonable settings for finished clips so every export lands at a predictable size.
07
Know the size before you send it
- Find the bitrate rather than guessing. Most players and file information panels show it.
- Multiply by the length. Bitrate times seconds, divided by eight, gives megabytes.
- Compare against your plan limit. Two gigabytes free, up to twelve on the top tier.
Check one file against your limit and upload it. Nothing to pay for the first.
Questions people ask
- Why is my phone video so large?
- Phones record at generous settings by default, often several times what the picture needs, because storage is cheaper to them than a complaint about quality.
- Does 4K quadruple the size?
- Roughly, at the same settings, because there are about four times as many pixels to describe.
- How long a video fits in two gigabytes?
- At a typical 10 megabits per second, around twenty five minutes. At phone default settings it can be far less.
- Does audio add much?
- Very little. Sound is a small fraction of a video file, which is why compressing it saves almost nothing.
- What if my recording is over the limit?
- Exporting again at a lower bitrate is the usual fix, and a supported link avoids the upload entirely.