Wondering how many pictures can a 128GB SD Card hold? You’ve landed at the right place.
In this post, you’ll learn about how many photos (RAW or JPEG) you can store in your 128GB memory card. Note that there are various factors that affect the photo size, which in turn makes a lot of difference in how many pictures your memory card can hold.
Factors Affecting Photo Size
There are a number of factors that will affect the size of each image. These factors include:
- Image Resolution: This is the most significant factor that affects photo size. the higher the image resolution of your camera, the greater your photo size will be.
- Image Compression: Shooting in JPEG (compressed) significantly reduces the image size when compared to uncompressed image formats (RAW).
- Video files: If you have a camera, it’s obvious that you would shoot both photos and videos. So, you must take into account the video size as it can add up quickly and reduce available space for photos on the SD card.
- Other files: Many cameras create additional files other than the video and image files. For example, GoPro cameras create LRV and THM files that will also use space on your SD card.
Therefore, coming up with an absolute number of photos that your SD card can hold is not as simple as it seems. All the above-mentioned factors can hugely affect the image size and the available capacity on the card.
JPEG & RAW Files
To determine how many pictures a 128GB card can hold, the first thing you need to consider is the file type – whether it’s RAW or JPEG.
JPEG
JPEG files are hugely popular and are easy to open on any device. A 128GB SD card can hold about 35,500 JPEG pictures. However, this number can vary depending on the picture quality. If your camera has more megapixels, it would translate into more space for each picture. So, while a 12MP camera can fill 128GB with about 35,500 photos, a 24MP camera will only be able to fit 2,600 photos in the same space.
Have a look at the below table to learn how the camera resolution affects the number of JPEG pictures you can store per GB:
| Megapixels | File Size (MB) | Images per GB |
|---|---|---|
| 5.5MP | 1.7 | 588 |
| 8MP | 2.4 | 417 |
| 10MP | 3 | 333 |
| 12MP | 3.6 | 277 |
| 16.6MP | 5 | 200 |
| 18MP | 5.2 | 192 |
| 20MP | 5.6 | 178 |
| 23.6MP | 6.5 | 153 |
RAW
Coming to RAW files – these files are brand-specific. It means that you can view these files on your camera but not on a different device. Typically, they are much larger than JPEG files, which is why you won’t be able to store as many pictures in a 128GB SD card. On average, an uncompressed RAW file is about 30 MB in size. So, a 128GB SD card can store about 4,300 RAW pictures.
Pro Tip: Move RAW files from your SD card to a computer or external hard drive to free up space.
GoPro Cameras – How Many Photos Can My 128GB Card Hold?
In this section, I’ll let you know how many photos (JPEG) can you realistically store on your 128GB microSD card when you use it in different GoPro models.
GoPro Hero 8 Black, Hero 7 Black & Hero 6 Black
All these cameras use the most common image resolution for GoPros – 12MP. So, the image size of these cameras is approximately 3.6MB. This translates into roughly 35,556 images that you can store on a 128GB SD card.
GoPro Max
With 16.6MP image resolution, the image size on GoPro Max is around 5MB. So, you’ll be able to store about 25,600 GoPro Max image captures on your 128SD SD card.
GoPro Hero 9 Black
The GoPro Hero 9 Black has a 20MP lens and captures approximately 5.6MB images. It means that you can store 22,857 images on your 128GB SD card.
GoPro Hero 10 Black
With 23.6MP image resolution, the image size on GoPro Hero 10 Black is around 6.5MB. This translates to about 19,692 images on a 128GB SD card.
Recommended 128GB microSD Cards
Now that you have a fair idea of how many images you can store on a 128GB SD card, and the various factors affecting this number, it’s time to get to some of the best microSD cards that you can use with your camera – whether it’s a GoPro or any other camera.
Here are some of my top recommendations for 128GB microSD cards:
#1. SanDisk Extreme UHS-I 128GB microSD Card – Our Top Pick!
- Up to 160MB/s read speeds to save time transferring high res images and 4K UHD videos...
- Up to 90MB/s write speeds for fast shooting; Requires compatible devices capable of...
- 4K UHD and Full HD Ready with UHS speed class 3 (U3) and video speed class 30 (V30)
#2. Samsung EVO Select 128GB UHS-I microSD Card
- Ideal for recording 4K UHD video: Samsung MicroSD Evo is perfect for high-res photos,...
- Durability rugged & lightweight; 2 meter drop test rated; IP54
- Built to last reliability: Shock proof memory card is also water proof, temperature...
#3. Lexar Professional 633x 128GB UHS-I microSD Card
- High-speed, Class 10 performance leverages UHS-I (U1 or U3 depends on capacity)...
- Capture high quality images of stunning 1080p full-HD, 3D, and 4K video
- Enjoy shooting longer without changing cards, large capacity options up to 1TB
#4. Delkin Select V30 UHS-I microSD Card
- Supports full HD 1080P video Recording
- Time-lapse, Photo-Burst, protons & HDR Ready
- Read/Write speeds: 100/75 MB/s
#5. PNY Elite-X V30 UHS-I microSD Card
- Up to 100MB/s read speed
- Class 10, U3, V30 performance for recording of 4K Ultra HD videos at 4096x3072 pix as...
- A1 (App 1) performance allows for apps to run faster from micro SD card, saving space...
Final Advice
128GB is a lot of space to store photos, no matter which camera you use. But, knowing exactly how many pictures a 128GB card can hold is much more complex than it seems. You have to consider various other factors, like camera resolution, the file type, and other files you have on the memory card.
Thanks for reading! 🙏
I hope this post answered your question – How Many Pictures a 128GB SD Card CAN Hold (RAW + JPEG) 🙂
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