Downloads
How long does it take to download 50 GB at 100 Mbps?
1 h 10 min
to download 50 GB at 100 Mbps, best case. Typical: 1 h 23 min (at 80 % efficiency, our estimate for Wi-Fi and busy servers).
50 GB is a typical modern game or a big update. At 100 Mbps the line, not the server, is usually the limit, so the arithmetic below is close to what you will see on a wired connection.
The arithmetic
- 50 GB × 8 bits per byte = 400 gigabits (400,000,000,000 bits)
- 100 Mbps = 100,000,000 bits per second = 12.5 MB/s at most
- 400,000,000,000 ÷ 100,000,000 = 4,000 s = 1 h 7 min with zero overhead
- TCP/IP and Ethernet framing use about 5 % of the line (1,460 data bytes per 1,538 on the wire): 4,000 ÷ 0.949 = 1 h 10 min
If the size is really 50 GiB (some stores and Windows label GiB as GB), it is 7.4 % bigger: 1 h 15 min best case.
| Speed | Best case (95 %) | Typical (80 %, estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 11 h 42 min | 13 h 53 min |
| 25 Mbps | 4 h 41 min | 5 h 33 min |
| 50 Mbps | 2 h 20 min | 2 h 47 min |
| 100 Mbps | 1 h 10 min | 1 h 23 min |
| 300 Mbps | 23 min 25 s | 27 min 47 s |
| 500 Mbps | 14 min 3 s | 16 min 40 s |
| 1,000 Mbps | 7 min 1 s | 8 min 20 s |
Sources and assumptions
- Overhead: 94.9 % efficiency from TCP/IPv4 on 1,500-byte Ethernet frames (computed); 80 % 'typical' is our estimate.