Buying a memory card, SSD, or drive and not sure what size to get? Estimate how much storage your photos and videos actually need, with a practical capacity to shop for.
Digital Storage Calculator
Estimate how much storage your photos and videos need, and see a practical capacity tier to shop for.
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How this calculator works
We total your photos (count × average size) and video (hours × a per-hour rate that scales with resolution — roughly 8 GB/hr at 1080p, 30 GB/hr at 4K, 120 GB/hr at 8K), add any documents and music, then add ~20% headroom and round up to a real-world capacity tier.
Example
2,000 photos at 5 MB plus 10 hours of 4K video works out to about 310 GB — so a 512 GB card or SSD gives comfortable room to grow.
Limitations
Averages vary widely: RAW photos and high-bitrate or high-frame-rate video are much larger than the defaults. Adjust the inputs to match your gear for a closer estimate.
Frequently asked questions
How big is an hour of 4K video?
Roughly 30 GB at common consumer bitrates, but high-frame-rate or professional footage can be several times that.
SD card, SSD, or hard drive?
SD/microSD for cameras and phones, external SSDs for fast portable working storage, and hard drives for cheap bulk archival capacity.