How Many Videos Per GB & Factors Affecting It

Andy Magri

1 year ago

If you love making videos, it’s super helpful to understand how many videos you can fit into a GB. Knowing the size of your latest masterpiece can give you a good idea of the space it’ll take up on your SD card, computer, or hard drive.

In this article, we’re going to dive into how many videos you can squeeze into a gigabyte and factors affecting file size.

How Many Videos Per GB

In one gigabyte of digital storage, you can store approximately 1.8 to 3.6 minutes of video.

Alternatively, this translates to about 2 to 5 videos, each with an average duration of 45 seconds, with the exact number depending on the video resolution. These estimates are for videos with resolutions ranging from 2.7K to 4K.

File size depends on 3 main factors: bitrate, video duration, and compression ratio. We will talk about it in the next section.

The size of a video file is primarily influenced by its bitrate rather than its resolution. Essentially, bitrate is the key determinant of a video’s file size. This means it’s possible to have a 4K video that has a lower bitrate—and consequently, lower quality and smaller file size—than a 720p video.

If your video includes an audio track, remember that the audio has its own separate bitrate.

Resolution	Bitrate	1 minute	Recording Duration per GB
4K (UHD)	20 Mbps	84MB	12 minutes
1080p (FHD)	5 Mbps	20MB	50 minutes
720p (HD)	1 Mbps	5MB	3.5 hours
480p (SD)	500 Kbps	2MB	8 Hours

Keep in mind that the video size mentioned here is an estimate. As we’ll discuss in the following section, numerous factors can influence the size of a particular video file.

This article aims to provide a general idea and a rough estimate. Naturally, if you use the exact same settings as I do, your file size and card capacity should align closely with mine.

Factors Affecting File Size

As we saw it in the previous section, several factors influence the size of your video files and the amount of space available on your storage device. Here’s a breakdown:

Video bitrate

This is the most important factor. It refers to how many bits of data are processed per second in your video file. Generally, a higher bitrate means better quality but also a larger file size, measured in Mbps.

In practical terms, it’s possible for a 4K video to have a lower bitrate than a 720p video. In such cases, although the 4K video occupies less disk space, its quality would be inferior to the 720p video. If your video includes an audio track, remember that this audio component also has its own separate bitrate.

For HD to 4K videos, bitrates can range from 8 to 70 Mbps, varying with the frame rate. Higher frame rates require higher bitrates. GoPro, for instance, uses a variable bitrate, and activating Protune mode increases the bitrate and, consequently, the file size.

FPS (Frame rates per second)

FPS, or frames per second, indicates how many frames appear on the screen each second. A standard video might display anywhere from 15 to 120 frames per second. Movies often use 24 FPS, while 30 FPS is typical for television.

It’s important not to confuse frame rate with shutter speed. Shutter speed is a setting within the camera that controls the level of motion blur in video production.

Higher FPS results in smoother playback but also leads to larger file sizes.

Video duration

The longer the video, the more storage space it requires. A 4-minute video will occupy twice as much space as a 2-minute video with identical settings.

Container/File format

The file format your camera uses to save videos also affects file size. Common formats include AVI, MOV, and MP4. GoPro cameras typically use the MP4 format with h.264 and h.265 codecs.

Photo files and other data

It’s rare to use a storage card exclusively for videos. Remember, photo files will also consume space, particularly if you’re capturing extensive time-lapse sequences. Some devices generate extra files besides video and photo files. For example, GoPro cameras create LRV and THM files, which also use up storage space.

How Many GB is 1 Hour Video?

The amount of gigabytes (GB) required for 1 hour of video significantly depends on several factors as we’ve seen in it in the section above, including the video’s bitrate, frame rate and compression.

Here’s a rough estimate:

Standard Definition (SD): An hour of SD video (480p) might use about 0.7 to 1 GB.
High Definition (HD) 720p: An hour of HD video at 720p can use about 0.75 to 2 GB.
Full HD 1080p: An hour of Full HD video at 1080p can range from 2 to 4 GB.
4K: An hour of 4K video can require anywhere from 7 to 14 GB or more, depending on the frame rate and compression.

Thanks for reading!

I hope this guide helped you learn how many videos per GB you can hold 🙂

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