Video
How many minutes of 4K video can a 128 GB phone record?
576minutes
as iPhone 4K, 30 fps (HEVC), 10.2 GB per hour, after 30 GB for system and apps
Phones record 4K in HEVC to save space, and it still fills storage fast. The iPhone shows a per-minute size beside each recording format in Settings › Camera › Record Video; we use those figures and keep 30 GB aside for the system and apps.
The arithmetic
- 128 GB = 128,000,000,000 bytes (drives and phones are sold in decimal units)
- Set aside 30 GB for the system and apps (our estimate): 128 − 30 = 98 GB free
- 170 MB per minute × 60 = 10.2 GB per hour
- 98 GB ÷ 10.2 GB per hour × 60 = 576 minutes
| Format | Per hour | On 128 GB | After 30 GB reserved |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 4K, 30 fps (HEVC) estimate | 10.2 GB | 753 min | 576 min |
| iPhone 4K, 60 fps (HEVC) estimate | 24 GB | 320 min | 245 min |
| iPhone 1080p, 30 fps (HEVC) estimate | 3.6 GB | 2,133 min | 1,633 min |
| Capacity | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 64 GB | 6 h 16 min |
| 256 GB | 25 h 6 min |
| 512 GB | 2 days 2 h |
| 1 TB | 4 days 2 h |
| 2 TB | 8 days 4 h |
Sources and assumptions
- iPhone 4K, 30 fps (HEVC) (estimate): The per-minute size iPhone shows under Settings › Camera › Record Video (as widely reported; check your own phone).
- iPhone 4K, 60 fps (HEVC) (estimate): The per-minute size iPhone shows under Settings › Camera › Record Video (as widely reported; check your own phone).
- iPhone 1080p, 30 fps (HEVC) (estimate): The per-minute size iPhone shows under Settings › Camera › Record Video (as widely reported; check your own phone).