---
title: "Video Bitrate: What It Is and What to Use | metadata.video"
description: "What video bitrate is, how it sets file size and quality, good bitrates for 1080p and 4K from YouTube’s own guidance, and a size calculator. Free, no upload."
url: https://metadata.video/what-is-video-bitrate
---

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# What is video bitrate, and what bitrate should you use?

Bitrate is the amount of data a video spends on each second. Here is how it decides file size and quality, what the recommended numbers are, and how to check your own files.

Video bitrate is the amount of data a video uses for each second of playback, usually measured in megabits per second (Mb/s, often written Mbps). A higher bitrate gives the encoder more data to describe each frame, so fine detail and fast movement survive better, and the file grows in step: a 10 Mb/s video takes about 75 MB per minute.

As a guide, YouTube recommends uploading 1080p at 8 Mb/s and 4K at 35–45 Mb/s for standard frame rates, and roughly 1.5 times that at 50 or 60 fps (YouTube Help, checked on 7 November 2026). There is no single “good” bitrate: it depends on resolution, frame rate, codec and how much the picture moves.

This guide explains how bitrate works, compares constant and variable bitrate, and includes a calculator that turns any two of file size, duration and bitrate into the third. To measure a file you already have, open it in the [video bitrate checker](https://metadata.video/video-bitrate-checker), which graphs its bitrate over time on your device without uploading it.

## How to see a video’s bitrate in Windows

File Explorer can show the bitrate stored in a file’s header. These steps work in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

1. ### Open the file’s properties
In File Explorer, right-click the video and choose **Properties**.
2. ### Go to the Details tab
Select the **Details** tab and scroll to the Video heading.
3. ### Read the two bitrate fields
**Data rate** is the video stream alone; **Total bitrate** adds the audio. Both are in kilobits per second (kbps): 8,000 kbps is 8 Mb/s. Some formats, MKV in particular, leave these fields blank.
4. ### Or work it out from size and length
On any device, divide the file size by the duration: size in megabytes × 8 ÷ length in seconds gives the average in Mb/s. The calculator below does the sum for you.

## Bitrate, file size and duration: the calculator

File size is bitrate multiplied by time. Because bitrate is quoted in bits and file sizes in bytes, the one thing to remember is the factor of eight: **megabytes = megabits per second × seconds ÷ 8**. Fill in any two boxes and the third is worked out for you.

__Worked examples using decimal units (1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes). Real files add a little for the container, so leave some headroom.__
| Situation                                | Known                          | Result                                                                            |
| ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 10 minutes of 1080p at 8 Mb/s            | **Bitrate** and **Duration**   | **File size** ≈ 600 MB                                                            |
| 1 minute of 4K at 45 Mb/s                | **Bitrate** and **Duration**   | **File size** ≈ 340 MB                                                            |
| A 2 GB file lasting 20 minutes           | **File size** and **Duration** | **Bitrate** ≈ 13.3 Mb/s on average                                                |
| A 25 MB attachment limit, 60-second clip | **File size** and **Duration** | **Bitrate** ≈ 3.3 Mb/s in total; about 3.2 Mb/s for video after 128 kb/s of audio |

### Mbps, MB/s and kbps

* **Mb/s or Mbps** (megabits per second) is how bitrate and internet speeds are quoted.
* **MB/s** (megabytes per second) is how disk and download speeds are often shown. 1 MB/s = 8 Mb/s, so a 100 Mb/s video needs 12.5 MB/s from the card or drive.
* **kb/s or kbps** (kilobits per second) is used for audio and low bitrates. 1,000 kbps = 1 Mb/s.

## Recommended bitrates

The most widely cited figures are YouTube’s recommended upload settings. They are a sound guide for any H.264 file you plan to upload or share, because they aim for files that survive the platform’s own re-encoding with detail to spare.

__Source: YouTube Help, “Recommended upload encoding settings”, checked on 7 November 2026\. YouTube recommends H.264 High Profile with variable bitrate for these figures.__
| Resolution | SDR, 24–30 fps | SDR, 48–60 fps | HDR, 24–30 fps | HDR, 48–60 fps |
| ---------- | -------------- | -------------- | -------------- | -------------- |
| 8K         | 80–160 Mb/s    | 120–240 Mb/s   | 100–200 Mb/s   | 150–300 Mb/s   |
| 2160p (4K) | 35–45 Mb/s     | 53–68 Mb/s     | 44–56 Mb/s     | 66–85 Mb/s     |
| 1440p      | 16 Mb/s        | 24 Mb/s        | 20 Mb/s        | 30 Mb/s        |
| 1080p      | 8 Mb/s         | 12 Mb/s        | 10 Mb/s        | 15 Mb/s        |
| 720p       | 5 Mb/s         | 7.5 Mb/s       | 6.5 Mb/s       | 9.5 Mb/s       |
| 480p       | 2.5 Mb/s       | 4 Mb/s         | Not supported  | Not supported  |
| 360p       | 1 Mb/s         | 1.5 Mb/s       | Not supported  | Not supported  |

For sound, the same page recommends 128 kbps for mono, 384 kbps for stereo and 512 kbps for 5.1, in AAC-LC or Opus at 48 kHz. Audio is a small part of most files: 384 kbps is under 5 per cent of an 8 Mb/s 1080p video.

These are figures for uploading. What viewers receive after a platform re-encodes is lower, and HEVC or AV1 files can look as good as these H.264 targets at a lower bitrate. Treat the numbers as a floor for uploads rather than a target for every file.

### Bits per pixel: why 4K needs less per pixel

Dividing bitrate by the number of pixels shown per second gives a rough measure of how generously a video is encoded. Larger frames share more detail between neighbouring pixels, so they need fewer bits per pixel for the same look.

__Calculated from YouTube’s SDR recommendations (the 4K row uses the middle of its 35–45 Mb/s range).__
| Video           | Bitrate | Pixels per second | Bits per pixel |
| --------------- | ------- | ----------------- | -------------- |
| 720p at 30 fps  | 5 Mb/s  | 27.6 million      | 0.18           |
| 1080p at 30 fps | 8 Mb/s  | 62.2 million      | 0.13           |
| 1080p at 60 fps | 12 Mb/s | 124.4 million     | 0.10           |
| 4K at 30 fps    | 40 Mb/s | 248.8 million     | 0.16           |

## Constant, variable, average and peak bitrate

An encoder can spend its bits evenly or follow the picture. Which it does changes how a file behaves when streamed and how its bitrate looks when you measure it.

Bitrate over time for the same clip. Constant bitrate (CBR) is a flat line, wasting bits on still scenes and starving busy ones. Variable bitrate (VBR) rises for action and scene changes and drops for calm shots, with the same or lower average.

* **CBR (constant bitrate)** keeps the rate nearly flat. Live streaming and broadcast use it because the network link has a fixed capacity.
* **VBR (variable bitrate)** gives complex, fast-moving scenes more bits and simple ones fewer, aiming at an average. It gives better quality for the same file size, which is why YouTube recommends it for uploads.
* **Constant quality** (CRF in x264 and x265, “RF” in HandBrake) targets a visual quality instead of a size. The bitrate goes wherever the content needs, so file size is only known at the end.

### Average and peak

Most tools report a single number, the average over the whole file. The peaks matter too: a 20 Mb/s average file may spike to 60 Mb/s on a burst of confetti or a fast pan, and a slow card, network or old TV may stutter there even though it copes with the average. Key frames, the complete pictures a codec stores every second or two, also stand out as small spikes. The bitrate graph in the [bitrate checker](https://metadata.video/video-bitrate-checker) shows all of this for your file, measured from packet sizes without decoding.

## Why phones record at such high bitrates

Phone videos are often several times the bitrates in the table above. A phone encodes in real time with a hardware encoder that has a fraction of a second to decide how to compress each frame, so it can’t search for savings the way a slow desktop encoder can, and it plays safe by spending more bits. Phone recordings commonly land somewhere between about 10 and 100 Mb/s depending on resolution, frame rate and codec; open one of yours in the bitrate checker to see where it sits.

Professional formats go much further. Apple says ProRes recordings on Pro iPhones can be up to 30 times larger than HEVC, because ProRes compresses each frame on its own for easy editing. At the other end, an HEVC recording needs a noticeably lower bitrate than H.264 for similar quality; the [HEVC vs H.264](https://metadata.video/hevc-vs-h264) comparison explains why.

## Does a higher bitrate mean better quality?

Up to a point. Raising the bitrate of a starved encode makes a visible difference; raising it further makes a smaller one, until extra bits buy nothing you can see. Several things limit what bitrate can do:

* **The source.** Re-encoding a blurry or already compressed file at a higher bitrate can’t restore lost detail. It only makes a bigger copy of the same picture.
* **The codec.** HEVC and AV1 reach a given quality at a lower bitrate than H.264, so bitrates are only comparable within one codec.
* **The content.** Talking heads against a plain wall need very little; grass in the wind, water, snow and confetti need a lot.
* **Resolution and frame rate.** More pixels and more frames need more bits, though not in direct proportion, as the bits-per-pixel table shows.

To judge your own files, compare bitrate with resolution in the [resolution checker](https://metadata.video/video-resolution-checker) and frame rate in the [frame rate checker](https://metadata.video/video-frame-rate-checker). A 4K file at 5 Mb/s, for example, has almost certainly been squeezed hard.

## Video bitrate: common questions

### What is a good bitrate for 1080p?

YouTube recommends 8 Mb/s for 1080p at 24–30 fps and 12 Mb/s at 48–60 fps for SDR uploads in H.264 (checked on 7 November 2026). HEVC can look similar at less; screen recordings with little movement can use much less.

### What is a good bitrate for 4K?

YouTube’s recommendation is 35–45 Mb/s for 4K SDR at 24–30 fps and 53–68 Mb/s at 48–60 fps, with higher figures for HDR. Phone recordings are often higher still because real-time encoders are less efficient.

### Does a higher bitrate mean better quality?

Only up to a point, and only within the same codec and source. Beyond what the content needs, extra bitrate makes a bigger file without a visible improvement, and it can never add back detail the source didn’t have.

### What is the difference between Mbps and MB/s?

Mbps is megabits per second and MB/s is megabytes per second. There are 8 bits in a byte, so 80 Mbps equals 10 MB/s.

### How do I calculate a video’s file size from its bitrate?

Multiply the bitrate in Mb/s by the length in seconds and divide by 8 to get megabytes. Ten minutes at 8 Mb/s is 8 × 600 ÷ 8 = 600 MB. The calculator on this page does it for you.

### Why is my file’s bitrate different from the one I chose when exporting?

With variable bitrate or constant-quality encoding, the setting is a target or a ceiling, not an exact figure. Simple footage often comes in below it, and the container adds a little overhead on top.

### Can I check my video’s bitrate without uploading it?

Yes. Open it in the [video bitrate checker](https://metadata.video/video-bitrate-checker): it reads the file on your device and shows the video and audio bitrates, a graph of how the bitrate changes over time, and the overall bitrate in its full report.

## Related metadata guides

* [ Video metadata viewer See, explain, edit and remove everything a video or photo says about itself. ](https://metadata.video/)
* [ Check a video’s bitrate Video and audio bitrate, plus a graph of bitrate over time measured from the file’s packets. ](https://metadata.video/video-bitrate-checker)
* [ Check a video’s resolution Exact width and height, the 720p/1080p/4K label, coded vs displayed size and pixel aspect ratio. ](https://metadata.video/video-resolution-checker)
* [ HEVC vs H.264 compared File size, quality, compatibility and editing compared, with the iPhone format setting explained. ](https://metadata.video/hevc-vs-h264)
* [ Check a video’s frame rate Average, minimum and maximum fps from real frame timing, with variable frame rate detection. ](https://metadata.video/video-frame-rate-checker)
* [ Check which codec a video uses See the video and audio codec, profile, level, bit depth, chroma and codec tag of any file. ](https://metadata.video/video-codec-checker)