Recording Storage Calculator
Work out file sizes, drive capacity and the sustained write speed you need for ProRes, DNxHR, H.264/H.265 or uncompressed recording. Covers a single camera, a multi-cam ISO record, or a whole run of shows.
Recording Format
px
px
Frames, not fields: 1080i50 = 25
ch
48 kHz 24-bit PCM
Mb/s
Long-GOP size depends only on the bitrate you set. Check the camera or recorder's spec for its actual rate.
Data Rate (per stream)
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Write Speed (per stream)
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Per Hour
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Per Hour (binary)
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Cameras, Drives & Show Run
cams
Cameras or ISO channels
Recording to
An ISO recorder writing every channel to one disk is "shared"
%
Duration → storage
Per stream
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All streams
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Smallest drive to buy (with margin)
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Drive → recording time
Recording time
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Usable space
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Show run
Total recorded
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Storage for the run
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With safety margin
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Will the Media Keep Up?
Compares the sustained write speed needed (—) with common recording media. Card speed classes are guaranteed minimum sustained writes. Drive figures are only the interface maximum: a drive's real sustained write can be much lower once its cache fills, so check reviews or the recorder maker's list of approved media.
| Media | Speed | Basis | Result |
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Compare Codecs at this format
| Codec | Mb/s | MB/s | GB / hour | Hours per TB |
|---|
Video only, one stream. Estimated rows (marked *) are scaled by pixel count from the nearest published frame size.
Notes & References
- ProRes: Apple ProRes White Paper (April 2022), Appendix "Target Data Rates". Apple's "24p", "30p" and "60p" columns are 23.976, 29.97 and 59.94 fps. Apple says a frame's target bit count stays fixed, so the data rate is that bit count × frame rate. Other rates (such as 24.000, 100 or 120) are scaled from the nearest column this way. 8K UHD (7680×4320) and custom sizes are estimated from the nearest published size by pixel count. ProRes is variable bit rate: a frame can be up to about 10% over target, and simple images come in under. The 4444 figures exclude alpha, which Apple says typically adds only a few percent.
- ProRes RAW is not listed. Apple publishes no rate table for it, only that ProRes RAW falls between ProRes 422 and 422 HQ, and RAW HQ between 422 HQ and 4444, varying more with image content.
- DNxHR: Avid Knowledge Base, "DNxHR Codec Bandwidth Specifications" (compressed bytes per frame for HD, 2K, UHD and 4K). At 1920×1080 the HQ/SQ/LB figures match DNxHD. Other sizes are scaled by pixel count (estimate). Avid lists its MB/s in binary (MiB/s), but this page uses decimal MB/s throughout, so values differ from Avid's table by 4.9%.
- Uncompressed: v210 packs 6 pixels into 16 bytes and pads each line to a multiple of 48 pixels (128 bytes). 2vuy is 2 bytes per pixel. r210 / 10-bit DPX is 4 bytes per pixel. 12-bit 4:4:4 is counted as 36 bits per pixel with no padding, as in Apple's comparison chart. As a check, 10-bit 4:2:2 at 1080p29.97 comes to 1,326 Mb/s, matching Apple's white paper.
- Blackmagic RAW is not included. Its constant-quality modes vary with image content, and Blackmagic publishes rates per camera and sensor mode, not as a general formula. Use the record-time tables in your camera's manual.
- Media: SD Association Video Speed Class (V30/V60/V90 = 30/60/90 MB/s minimum sustained write). CompactFlash Association VPG200/VPG400 (200/400 MB/s minimum sustained). SATA III 6 Gb/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gb/s and PCIe 3.0/4.0 ×4 are interface line rates after encoding overhead.
- Units: drives are sold in decimal units: 1 TB = 1012 bytes, 1 GB = 109. Operating systems often show binary units (1 TiB = 240 bytes), so a "2 TB" drive appears as about 1.82 TiB. File-system overhead and the recorder's own reserve also reduce usable space, which is one reason to keep a safety margin. Audio is 48 kHz 24-bit PCM at 1.152 Mb/s per channel, and container overhead is ignored.
- Related: Video Bandwidth Calculator · Display Timing & EDID Reference