What is video bitrate?
Bitrate is the amount of data used per second of video, usually in megabits per second (Mbps). A higher bitrate means more detail and fewer compression artefacts — and bigger files. The right bitrate depends on the number of pixels, the frame rate and how much movement there is.
A useful measure is bits per pixel (bitrate ÷ (width × height × fps)). For H.264, about 0.05–0.1 looks good for most content; fast sports and games need more. HEVC needs about 40% less and AV1 about 50% less for the same quality.
For live streaming, the platform sets a maximum bitrate and your upload speed must have headroom — a stable stream needs roughly 1.3–1.5× the video bitrate in upload bandwidth.
Recommended bitrates for uploads (H.264, normal motion)
| Resolution | 24–30 fps | 50–60 fps |
|---|---|---|
| 4K (2160p) | 35–45 Mbps | 53–68 Mbps |
| 1440p | 16 Mbps | 24 Mbps |
| 1080p | 8 Mbps | 12 Mbps |
| 720p | 5 Mbps | 7.5 Mbps |
| 480p | 2.5 Mbps | 4 Mbps |
| 360p | 1 Mbps | 1.5 Mbps |
Tips
- For uploads to YouTube, a higher bitrate than needed is fine — YouTube re-encodes anyway.
- Calculate the resulting file size with the Video File Size Calculator.
- Check the real bitrate of a video with the Video Metadata Viewer.
- Need a smaller file at a given bitrate? Use the Video Compressor.