Streaming data
How much data does Spotify use per hour?
144MB per hour
Spotify, Very high (320 kbps): worked out from the bitrate the service publishes
Music is small next to video. Even Spotify's top 'Very high' setting uses about as much data in an hour as two minutes of 4K Netflix.
The arithmetic
- Spotify Very high (320 kbps): 320 kbps (published bitrate)
- 320,000 bits/s × 3,600 s ÷ 8 = 144,000,000 bytes = 144 MB per hour
- A 2-hour film: 0.14 × 2 = 0.29 GB
- Two hours a day for 30 days: 0.14 × 60 = 8.64 GB a month
| Setting | Per hour | Per 2-hour film | 2 h a day, 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low (24 kbps) | 10.8 MB | 21.6 MB | 648 MB |
| Normal (96 kbps) | 43.2 MB | 86.4 MB | 2.59 GB |
| High (160 kbps) | 72 MB | 144 MB | 4.32 GB |
| Very high (320 kbps) | 144 MB | 288 MB | 8.64 GB |
Sources and assumptions
- Spotify Support, 'Audio quality' (support.spotify.com): approximate bitrates per quality setting, checked 2026-10-25. Spotify publishes the bitrate of each setting; we turn it into data per hour. Lossless (up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC) has no published bitrate; its ceiling is uncompressed PCM at 2,116.8 kbps, about 0.95 GB per hour, and FLAC comes in below that.