Camera Recording File Size Calculator
Pick your camera, codec, and shoot duration. Get exact file sizes, how many clips fit on your cards, and direct links to buy the right media for your shoot.
Compare file sizes and card capacity for two cameras side by side.
Estimate file size and recording time for one camera and codec.
File size and card math for external monitor-recorders.
Plan storage across multiple cameras and shoot days at once.
Convert between bitrate and resulting file size instantly.
Convert between shoot duration and resulting file size.
Solve for file size using bitrate and duration together.
Add, subtract and convert SMPTE timecode at any frame rate.
Estimate card-to-drive transfer time based on the slowest link.
OCF size plus dailies transcode size, with resolution and crop.
Storage across camera originals, proxy editorial and online/grade media.
Usable storage after RAID redundancy for post-production drive arrays.
| Metric | CAM-A | CAM-B | Smaller |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitrate | — | — | — |
| Per minute | — | — | — |
| Per hour | — | — | — |
| This shoot (raw) | — | — | — |
| With buffer | — | — | — |
Figures are as accurate as possible. Some cameras use variable bitrate compression — actual file sizes will vary depending on scene complexity, recording settings, and firmware version.
Shoot planner
Plan a multi-day, multi-camera shoot: cards, drives, and backups needed, with a live capacity read-out.
Figures are estimates based on manufacturer-published bitrates and assume steady recording at the stated hours/day. Actual usage varies with scene complexity, breaks, and card/drive overhead. Backup copies shown as a simple multiplier — for master/slave workflows, plan for the master to travel with the crew and the slave to ship for post.
Bitrate File size calculator
Enter any two values — we solve the third. Pick a resolution, frame rate and codec preset to auto-fill bitrate, or type your own.
Manufacturer verified. Every bitrate is sourced from manufacturer documentation, official spec sheets, and published help guides — not third-party estimates. VBR (variable bitrate) codec presets show the peak advertised rate; real-world file sizes are often lower depending on scene complexity. CBR (constant bitrate) codecs stay fixed regardless of content.
Duration File size calculator
Same solve-for-the-third logic, tied to resolution + frame rate. VBR codecs scale with frame rate, CBR codecs stay fixed.
Manufacturer verified. Every bitrate is sourced from manufacturer documentation, official spec sheets, and published help guides — not third-party estimates. VBR (variable bitrate) codec presets show the peak advertised rate and scale with frame rate below; real-world file sizes are often lower depending on scene complexity. CBR (constant bitrate) codecs stay fixed regardless of frame rate.
Bitrate + Duration File size calculator
Fill in any two of Duration, Bitrate and File size — the third solves automatically. VBR codec presets scale with frame rate.
Manufacturer verified. Every bitrate is sourced from manufacturer documentation, official spec sheets, and published help guides — not third-party estimates. VBR codec presets show the peak advertised rate and scale with frame rate; CBR codecs stay fixed regardless of frame rate or scene content.
Professional Timecode Calculator
Add, subtract, multiply or divide timecode at any standard frame rate, including drop-frame.
Drop-frame timecode (29.97 DF, 59.94 DF) skips frame numbers — not actual frames — to keep timecode aligned with real-world clock time. Mixing drop-frame and non-drop-frame timecode in the same calculation is a common source of sync errors on set; always confirm your project’s frame rate mode before relying on these results.
Transfer time calculator
Estimate how long a card-to-drive or drive-to-drive transfer will take, based on the slowest link in the chain.
Real-world transfer speeds are always lower than rated/theoretical maximums due to file system overhead, drive fragmentation, small-file overhead, and controller limitations. The efficiency setting above lets you model this — 70% is a reasonable default for most real-world card-to-SSD transfers.
Dailies calculator
Work out original camera footage (OCF) size, then estimate dailies transcode size on top — including resolution and aspect-ratio crop.
Dailies bitrate is estimated by scaling the selected codec’s reference bitrate by the ratio of delivery pixels to reference pixels, then applying any aspect-ratio crop. Actual transcode bitrates vary by encoder settings, grain/noise levels, and whether color grading (LUTs/CDLs) is baked in.
Proxy workflow storage calculator
Estimate storage across the full post pipeline — camera originals, proxy/offline editorial media, and online/grade media — based on your planned runtime and shooting ratio.
Proxy media is estimated for all shot footage (final runtime × shooting ratio), since editors typically work from the full shoot before cutting down. Online/grade media is estimated for the final program runtime only, since only the selected cut is usually conformed back to full quality. Actual storage varies with shooting style, coverage, and how much extra footage (safety takes, b-roll) is captured beyond the stated ratio.
RAID configuration calculator
Calculate usable storage after RAID redundancy for post-production storage arrays.
Usable capacity is calculated using standard RAID overhead formulas and assumes all drives are the same size. Real-world usable capacity can be slightly lower due to filesystem overhead, controller reserved space, and manufacturer capacity rounding (drives are sold in decimal TB, most systems report in binary TiB). RAID 10 and RAID 50 figures assume an even number of drives split into the minimum number of sub-arrays.
Quick answers
Direct numbers for the most-searched storage questions. Every figure pulled from manufacturer documentation.
00:00:43:00 00:01:56:00). Each line’s duration is calculated and all clips are totaled into one combined runtime — handy for tallying selects from a shot log or EDL.Where the numbers come from
Every bitrate sourced from manufacturer documentation, official spec sheets, and published help guides. VBR codecs show peak advertised rates — real-world files may be lower.
CBR vs VBR
CBR codecs like XAVC S-I write at a fixed rate — estimates are precise. VBR codecs like H.265 Long GOP fluctuate with scene complexity — estimates show peak rate.
Cameras covered
294+ cameras across cinema, prosumer hybrid, drone, action, handheld gimbal, and high-speed categories. This calculator covers modern cameras that record 4K or above — cameras limited to FHD or lower are not included. Always verify against your camera’s official spec sheet.
Card buffer explained
The 20% buffer is recommended for mission-critical work. Filling a card to 100% risks losing the final clip.