Quick guide
How to use this calculator
- Choose the real storage, transfer, media, backup, or archive task first, then enter only the measurements and assumptions that belong to that workflow.
- Keep bits and bytes, decimal SI and binary IEC prefixes, rates, durations, counts, reserves, efficiency, overhead, compression, and retention conventions explicit.
- Use the companion outputs to reconcile the scenario. Where actual system behavior is unknown, enter measured values or retain the stated limitation instead of treating a plan as a guarantee.
Calculation method
How the video, streaming and camera storage calculator works
Plan recordings or retained streams from known encoder bitrates without guessing file size from resolution, codec name, camera model, or quality label.
Storage = (video bitrate + audio bitrate) × recorded seconds per day × retention days × stream count × (1 + entered overhead percentage), converted from bits to bytes.
Worked example
Video, Streaming and Camera Storage example
Four continuous 8 Mbit/s video streams with 192 kbit/s audio, 30-day retention, and 3% overhead require about 10.94 TB of decimal storage.
Storage = (video bitrate + audio bitrate) × recorded seconds per day × retention days × stream count × (1 + entered overhead percentage), converted from bits to bytes.
Supported inputs
Precision and limits
Digital-system boundary
Actual variable bitrate, codec behavior, motion detection, keyframes, metadata, container structure, dropped frames, retention deletion, redundancy, and vendor-reserved capacity are not inferred.
Units and precision
One byte is eight bits. Decimal kB, MB, GB and TB use powers of 1,000; binary KiB, MiB, GiB and TiB use powers of 1,024. Calculations retain working precision and round only for display.
Category ownership
This calculator handles neutral information quantity, transfer, storage, media-payload, compression, backup, RAID, or archive arithmetic. Live speed tests, IP addressing, packet engineering, current vendor pricing, security analysis, and physical display sizing belong to other tools.
Privacy
File names and contents are never requested. Entered quantities and results stay in this browser and are not sent to analytics or third parties.
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