SavingBits

Music

How many songs fit on 128 GB?

38,000songs

as MP3 at 128 kbps, 3.36 MB each

128 GB is enough for most people's whole collection in AAC, and for a few thousand albums' worth of tracks even in CD-quality FLAC.

The arithmetic

  1. 128 GB = 128,000,000,000 bytes (drives and phones are sold in decimal units)
  2. 128 kbps × 210 s ÷ 8 bits per byte = 3.36 MB per 3.5-minute song
  3. 128,000,000,000 ÷ 3,360,000 = 38,095, so about 38,000
Every format on 128 GB
FormatSize eachOn 128 GB
MP3 at 128 kbps computed3.36 MB38,095
AAC at 256 kbps (iTunes / Apple Music standard) computed6.72 MB19,047
MP3 / Ogg at 320 kbps computed8.4 MB15,238
CD-quality FLAC (16-bit / 44.1 kHz) estimate23.6 MB5,417
Hi-res FLAC (24-bit / 96 kHz) estimate76.1 MB1,681
128 kbps MP3 on other sizes
CapacitySongs
64 GB19,047
256 GB76,190
512 GB152,380
1 TB297,619
2 TB595,238

Sources and assumptions

  • MP3 at 128 kbps (computed): The classic 'small' MP3 setting.
  • AAC at 256 kbps (iTunes / Apple Music standard) (computed): Apple sells and streams its standard-quality music as 256 kbps AAC.
  • MP3 / Ogg at 320 kbps (computed): The highest MP3 bitrate; also Spotify's 'Very high' setting.
  • CD-quality FLAC (16-bit / 44.1 kHz) (estimate): Uncompressed CD audio is exactly 1,411.2 kbps; FLAC typically shrinks it to 50–70 % depending on the music. We use 900 kbps.
  • Hi-res FLAC (24-bit / 96 kHz) (estimate): Uncompressed 24/96 stereo is exactly 4,608 kbps; FLAC typically lands near 2,500–3,300 kbps.
  • Song length: 3.5 minutes (our estimate for a typical song).

Try your own numbers in the how much fits calculator