Video
How many hours of 1080p video fit on 1 TB?
278hours
as 1080p, 30 fps (H.264, 8 Mbps), 3.6 GB per hour
Video size depends on bitrate, not resolution alone. An hour of 1080p is at most 3 GB from Netflix but 5.4 GB at YouTube's recommended 60 fps upload bitrate, and cameras often go higher. These rows use published bitrates.
The arithmetic
- 1,000 GB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes (drives and phones are sold in decimal units)
- 8 Mbps × 3,600 s ÷ 8 = 3.6 GB per hour
- 1,000 GB ÷ 3.6 GB per hour = 278 hours
| Format | Per hour | On 1,000 GB |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p, 30 fps (H.264, 8 Mbps) published | 3.6 GB | 11 days 14 h |
| 1080p, 60 fps (H.264, 12 Mbps) published | 5.4 GB | 7 days 17 h |
| iPhone 1080p, 30 fps (HEVC) estimate | 3.6 GB | 11 days 14 h |
| Capacity | Hours |
|---|---|
| 64 GB | 17 h 47 min |
| 128 GB | 35 h 33 min |
| 256 GB | 2 days 23 h |
| 512 GB | 5 days 22 h |
| 2 TB | 23 days 4 h |
Sources and assumptions
- 1080p, 30 fps (H.264, 8 Mbps): YouTube Help, 'Recommended upload encoding settings': 8 Mbps for 1080p at 24–30 fps.
- 1080p, 60 fps (H.264, 12 Mbps): YouTube Help, 'Recommended upload encoding settings': 12 Mbps for 1080p at 48–60 fps.
- iPhone 1080p, 30 fps (HEVC) (estimate): The per-minute size iPhone shows under Settings › Camera › Record Video (as widely reported; check your own phone).