Recording Storage Calculator

Knowledge Base

How to Use This Calculator

Pick the resolution, frame rate, and codec you actually shoot in. These three settings determine your bitrate, and bitrate directly determines file size per unit of time. Enter your card or drive capacity to see how many hours of footage it can realistically hold.

Why Codec Choice Matters So Much

At the same resolution and frame rate, ProRes can use 5-10x the storage of H.265 for similar (not identical) visual quality. H.265's efficiency comes from heavier compression, which costs more processing power to encode and decode but saves enormous amounts of storage and is well suited to delivery and most day-to-day shooting.

Editing Codec vs. Delivery Codec

Heavy compression formats like H.265 are efficient for storage but more demanding to scrub and edit smoothly, which is part of why proxy editing (see the dedicated guide) exists. ProRes and RAW are easier to edit natively but need significantly more storage and, often, faster drives to play back smoothly.

FAQ

Q: Should I always shoot in the most efficient codec to save space?
A: Not necessarily, if you plan to colour grade heavily or need maximum editing flexibility, a higher-quality codec (ProRes, RAW) gives more room to work even though it costs more storage.

Q: Why is my actual file size different from this calculator's estimate?
A: Real-world bitrate varies with scene complexity (a static shot compresses smaller than fast motion) and your specific camera's encoder settings. Treat these numbers as a planning estimate, not an exact guarantee.

Sizing cards and drives honestly

Data rate is what determines storage, and it depends far more on codec than on resolution. A heavily compressed delivery codec and an intra-frame editing codec at the same resolution can differ by a factor of ten. Choosing the codec first and then calculating is the only order that gives a meaningful figure.

Frame rate scales the requirement roughly proportionally. Doubling from 30 to 60 frames per second means close to twice the data for the same resolution and codec, which catches people out when they switch to a higher frame rate for one sequence and find the card full at half the expected time.

Buy considerably more than the calculation says. A card filled to capacity leaves no room for the take that runs long, and cards perform worse and fail more often when near full. Planning at around two thirds of nominal capacity is a reasonable habit, and carrying a spare matters more than carrying a larger one.

Card speed constrains what you can record at all, separately from capacity. A card fast enough for one codec drops frames on a more demanding one regardless of how much space remains, and the failure appears mid-take rather than as a warning beforehand. Check the sustained write specification rather than the headline burst figure.

Plan the offload before the shoot rather than after. Footage exists on one card until it exists in two places, and the gap between those states is where material gets lost. Offloading to two destinations before reformatting anything, and verifying the copy rather than trusting it completed, is the discipline separating an inconvenience from a disaster.

Vocabulary

Data rate. How much data one second of video occupies, usually in megabits per second. Determined mostly by codec, then by resolution and frame rate, and the figure every storage calculation starts from.

Intra-frame and inter-frame. Intra-frame codecs store each frame completely, producing large files that edit smoothly. Inter-frame codecs store only what changed between frames, producing small files that demand more of a computer during editing.

Sustained write speed. How fast a card accepts data continuously, as opposed to in a short burst. The figure determining whether a card can record a given codec without dropping frames.

Offload. Copying footage from cards to storage, ideally two destinations, and verifying the copy before reformatting. The point in a workflow where material is most likely to be lost.