The Tool Desk
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Estimate storage from bitrate and retention
For a constant-bitrate recording, use this estimate:
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Decimal GB ≈ bitrate in Mbps × recording hours × 0.45
For continuous recording, multiply the bitrate by 10.8 to estimate decimal GB per day, or by 3.94 to estimate decimal TB per 365-day year. These are arithmetic estimates, not measured file sizes. They exclude filesystem and recording overhead, so leave headroom when choosing capacity.
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For example, at 17 Mbps, a full day is approximately 184 GB; 30 days is about 5.5 TB before overhead. A year is about 67 TB.
Example storage needs at YouTube H.264 live bitrates
YouTube’s live encoder guidance recommends the H.264 bitrates below for these resolutions and frame rates. The storage figures are calculated from those rates for continuous local recording and are in decimal units.
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| Live output | YouTube recommended H.264 bitrate | Approx. space per day | Approx. space per 365-day year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p60 | 17 Mbps | 184 GB | 67 TB |
| 1440p60 | 34 Mbps | 367 GB | 134 TB |
| 2160p/4K60 | 50 Mbps | 540 GB | 197 TB |
The recommended rates are from YouTube’s live encoder settings. They are useful examples, not a guarantee of the size of your local VOD files.
Use the bitrate of the recording you will actually keep
If your local recording uses the same encoded stream sent to YouTube, the live-ingest bitrate is a reasonable estimate. If your recording has separate quality settings, use its configured bitrate instead. A different codec also changes the applicable YouTube live recommendation: H.264 rates should not be applied to AV1 or H.265 recordings without checking the corresponding codec row.
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Do not substitute YouTube’s upload-file recommendations for live-ingest rates. For example, YouTube separately recommends 12 Mbps for SDR 1080p high-frame-rate uploads and 24 Mbps for SDR 1440p high-frame-rate uploads. Those are upload encoding recommendations, not live ingestion settings; see YouTube’s upload encoding recommendations.
Account for retention, copies, and variable file sizes
- Retention: Multiply the daily estimate by the number of days you intend to keep. A 30-day archive at 1080p60 and 17 Mbps is about 5.5 decimal TB before overhead.
- More than one copy: Multiply the file-storage estimate by the number of simultaneous copies you want to maintain. Redundancy reduces the usable capacity of a physical storage setup.
- Variable bitrate: Quality-based and variable-bitrate recording modes can produce different file sizes across games and scenes. A complex, fast-moving session may not match a simple average.
- Other tracks and overhead: Extra audio tracks, container and filesystem overhead, and a safety margin add to the space required.
Before buying storage, record a representative session using the intended local settings, check the resulting file size, and extrapolate to your retention period. For a drive or NAS, compare usable capacity after redundancy, cost per usable terabyte, expansion options, recovery from drive failure, and whether the archive must stay connected to the recording system.
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Do not rely on one continuous YouTube archive as your only backup
YouTube says streams under 12 hours can be automatically archived, but warns that a stream exceeding 12 hours may not be captured at all. It recommends recording a local archive as a backup. A single uninterrupted 24/7 broadcast therefore should not be treated as a dependable complete VOD archive. See YouTube Help: Archive live streams.
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Or let it run in the cloud
If your goal is a YouTube channel that continuously plays uploaded gaming videos, rather than keeping a local recording of every hour, StreamNeo is a cloud option: upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key, and go live. It loops uploaded videos, not a live camera feed.
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