Video Streaming Data Usage
Calculate how much data Netflix, YouTube and other streaming services use.
Results
Video streaming is the largest source of internet data usage for most households. Netflix, YouTube and Disney+ all consume different amounts of bandwidth depending on the resolution you choose. This calculator helps you estimate total data consumption so you can manage data caps and choose the right internet plan.
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Frequently asked questions
Netflix uses about 3 GB per hour at 1080p Full HD quality. At that rate, watching 2 hours a day for a month uses roughly 180 GB of your data allowance.
4K streaming uses about 7 GB per hour. Watching 2 hours per day for 30 days consumes around 420 GB - nearly half of a typical 1 TB data cap.
At the same resolution they use similar amounts. However YouTube defaults to adaptive quality which can vary from 480p to 1080p depending on your connection, so actual usage may be lower than Netflix at a fixed HD setting.
Lower the video quality in your streaming app settings. Dropping from 1080p to 720p cuts usage in half (from 3 GB/hr to 1.5 GB/hr). Most services also offer a data-saver mode that uses around 0.3 GB per hour.
Not automatically. The same 1080p stream uses 3 GB/hr on both devices. However phone apps often default to lower quality on cellular networks and some services like Netflix let you set mobile-specific data limits.