Disk space for photos (MP × format) and video (resolution × fps × codec × time).
Marketed GB use decimal (1 GB = 1 000 000 000 B); operating systems report binary (1 GiB = 1 073 741 824 B). Real usable capacity is 7–10 % below the label, plus filesystem overhead. Mixed photo + video shoots and Live Photos cut counts further — treat results as a planning ceiling, not a hard maximum.
Photographers, videographers, and storage planners need to forecast disk-space requirements for shoots and archives. The math is simple per-file but the parameters compound rapidly: megapixels × bytes-per-pixel × number-of-photos for stills; bitrate × resolution × framerate × seconds for video. A single 12 megapixel photo takes 5 MB as JPEG, 18 MB as HEIF, 50 MB as RAW, or 100 MB as PNG. A minute of 4K 60 fps H.265 video is 800 MB; a minute of 8K 60 fps is 1.5 GB. Storage budgets for a wedding, a feature film, a year's family archive escalate quickly when these are multiplied out. This calculator computes both photo storage (count × MB-per-MP × MP) and video storage (bitrate-from-table × seconds), and shows a stacked-bar comparison of photos vs video share so the bigger storage hog is visible at a glance.
Photo storage = photo_count × megapixels × MB_per_MP[format].
MB-per-MP factors (typical 2024–2026 sensors and codecs): - JPEG: 0.40 (high quality at ~ 1 byte/pixel after compression). - HEIF/HEIC: 0.20 (~ 50 % more efficient than JPEG). - RAW: 1.50 (lossless, depends on sensor bit-depth). - PNG: 2.50 (lossless, no chroma subsampling).
Video storage uses a bitrate lookup table indexed by resolution × framerate × codec: - 720p / 1080p / 1440p / 4K / 8K resolutions. - 24 / 30 / 60 / 120 fps. - H.264 vs H.265 (HEVC) vs ProRes 422 vs ProRes 4444.
Bitrate increases roughly with pixel-count × framerate × codec_factor. H.265 is ~ 50 % more efficient than H.264 (same quality, half the bitrate). ProRes is post-production-grade, much higher bitrate.
Video size = bitrate_Mbps × seconds × 1.0e6 / 8 / 1024² → MB.
The chart shows a stacked horizontal bar with photos (left, blue) vs video (right, green) proportional to their MB.
For photos: enter the count, megapixels of the camera (typical 12–50 MP), and pick the format. For video: enter the resolution, framerate, codec, and duration in seconds. The result panel shows total photo MB, total video MB, grand total in MB / GB, and the stacked bar comparison.
A wedding shoot: 800 photos at 24 MP, JPEG (0.40 MB/MP):
Plus 30 minutes (1 800 s) of 4K 60 fps H.265 video at ~ 100 Mbps:
Total: 7.5 + 22 = 29.5 GB. Video is ~ 75 % of total even though only 30 minutes — video dwarfs stills at 4K.
A year-long family archive: 5 000 photos at 12 MP HEIF (0.20 MB/MP), 10 hours of 1080p H.264 60 fps (~ 12 Mbps):
Pro photographer: 200 photos at 50 MP RAW (1.50): - Photo: 200 × 50 × 1.50 = 15 000 MB = 15 GB for 200 stills. RAW is space-hungry.
JPEG quality affects size 3×. The MB-per-MP varies from 0.10 (low quality, 50 % JPEG) to 0.80 (high quality, 95 % JPEG). The calc's 0.40 is a typical "best quality" default for a 24 MP DSLR.
RAW size depends on bit depth and compression. Compressed RAW (CR3, CR2 with compression, CRW) is 60–70 % of uncompressed RAW. Lossless RAW is closer to 1.5 MB/MP; lossy RAW closer to 1.0.
HEIF requires recent iOS/macOS support. Older devices fall back to JPEG, defeating the size advantage. Apple started using HEIF as default in iOS 11 (2017).
Video bitrate is approximate. The calc's lookup table is one-size-fits-all per resolution/fps/codec. Real bitrate depends on bit depth (8/10/12), color sampling (4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4), and compression complexity (high-motion content needs higher bitrate to maintain quality).
ProRes is huge. ProRes 422 at 4K 60 fps is ~ 700 Mbps. ProRes 4444 XQ at 8K 60 fps is ~ 4.5 Gbps. Don't confuse with consumer codecs.
Cloud storage vs local storage. The calc gives raw bytes; cloud syncing has per-file overhead and may transcode (Apple iCloud Photo Library may downsize). Plan for ~ 110 % of raw storage to account for thumbnails and metadata.
Card capacity is binary, advertised in decimal. A "128 GB" SD card is 128 × 10⁹ bytes ≈ 119 GiB usable. Cameras typically reserve 5–10 % for card-management. Use ~ 110 GB available on a 128 GB card.
Burst-mode photo size doesn't reduce per-frame. 10 fps burst doesn't compress better than single-shot — each frame is full file size.
Audio adds to video. The video bitrate above doesn't include audio. Add ~ 5–20 Mbps for typical multi-channel audio.
RAW + JPEG dual-mode. Some cameras shoot RAW + JPEG simultaneously; double the photo storage when this mode is on.
Compressed-archive storage. Final archives (lightroom catalog, FCP library) include thumbnails, previews, and project files — adds 10–20 % to the raw image storage.