Data caps
How much streaming fits in a 50 GB mobile plan?
17hours a month
of Netflix High, HD in 50 GB, about 33 min a day
50 GB is a generous phone plan, enough for a film a day at low quality, or a couple of HD episodes a week with room left for everything else.
The arithmetic
- Netflix High, HD uses up to 3 GB per hour
- 50 GB ÷ 3 GB per hour = 16.7 hours a month
- Over a 30-day month: 16.7 ÷ 30 = 33 min a day
- That assumes the whole allowance goes on streaming; leave room for updates, browsing and backups.
| Service and setting | Hours a month | Per day |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix Low | 167 h | 5 h 33 min |
| Netflix Medium | 71 h | 2 h 23 min |
| Netflix High, SD | 50 h | 1 h 40 min |
| Netflix High, HD | 17 h | 33 min |
| Netflix High, 4K Ultra HD | 7.1 h | 14 min |
| YouTube 360p | 159 h | 5 h 17 min |
| YouTube 480p | 101 h | 3 h 22 min |
| YouTube 720p | 44 h | 1 h 29 min |
| YouTube 1080p | 22 h | 44 min |
| YouTube 4K | 5.6 h | 11 min |
| Spotify Low (24 kbps) | 4,630 h | 154 h 19 min |
| Spotify Normal (96 kbps) | 1,157 h | 38 h 35 min |
| Spotify High (160 kbps) | 694 h | 23 h 9 min |
| Spotify Very high (320 kbps) | 347 h | 11 h 34 min |
| Apple Music AAC 256 kbps | 434 h | 14 h 28 min |
| Zoom Audio only | 694 h | 23 h 9 min |
| Zoom 1:1 video, 720p | 46 h | 1 h 33 min |
| Zoom Group video, 720p | 25 h | 51 min |
| Zoom Video, 1080p | 16 h | 33 min |
Sources and assumptions
- Netflix Help Center, 'How to control how much data Netflix uses' (help.netflix.com/en/node/87), checked 2026-10-25. Netflix publishes these as 'up to' figures per device. Real use is often lower, since Netflix adapts to the connection and the title.