Streaming Data Usage

Do you know how much data you use for HD video and high-bitrate audio streaming?

16:50 04 July 2017

Many people now pass their time by watching HD videos on video sites like YouTube and listening to music using apps such as Spotify and Apple Music. As data can be quite costly for some, we have broken down how much data these activities consume to help you effectively manage your data plan.

 

Most audio streaming services use the same scale: Low, Normal and High. Low quality is typically 96kbps and uses 0.72MB per minute or 43.2MB per hour. Normal quality, on the other hand, is 160kbps and uses 1.20MB per minute, which is equivalent to 72MB per hour, on average. High quality music is 320kbps and uses 2.40 per minute or 115.2MB per hour.

 

Video streaming uses far more data than audio does as more information is being transmitted. Low quality videos use about 0.3GB per hour while SD quality video (480p) uses about 0.7GB per hour. HD quality, on the other hand, is between 720p and 2K and uses about 0.9GB (720p), 1.5g (1080p) and 3GB (2K) per hour. UHD quality video uses about 7.2G per hour.

 

You can use these numbers to plan out how much data you need for streaming if you’re shopping for a service.