Music
How many songs fit in 1 GB?
297songs
as MP3 at 128 kbps, 3.36 MB each
A song's size is its bitrate times its length. We assume a 3½-minute song; double the length and you halve the count. Streaming apps' offline downloads follow the same arithmetic.
The arithmetic
- 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes (drives and phones are sold in decimal units)
- 128 kbps × 210 s ÷ 8 bits per byte = 3.36 MB per 3.5-minute song
- 1,000,000,000 ÷ 3,360,000 = 297, so about 297
| Format | Size each | On 1 GB |
|---|---|---|
| MP3 at 128 kbps computed | 3.36 MB | 297 |
| AAC at 256 kbps (iTunes / Apple Music standard) computed | 6.72 MB | 148 |
| MP3 / Ogg at 320 kbps computed | 8.4 MB | 119 |
| CD-quality FLAC (16-bit / 44.1 kHz) estimate | 23.6 MB | 42 |
| Hi-res FLAC (24-bit / 96 kHz) estimate | 76.1 MB | 13 |
| Capacity | Songs |
|---|---|
| 64 GB | 19,047 |
| 128 GB | 38,095 |
| 256 GB | 76,190 |
| 512 GB | 152,380 |
| 1 TB | 297,619 |
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).