How many terabytes does a small video team need?

It depends on the footage, so there is no single answer. Multiply the data rate of your codec by the hours you shoot per month and the months you keep projects online, add headroom, then multiply by the number of copies you keep. As an example from Apple's published rates, an hour of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 24p is about 318 GB, so 20 hours a month for 6 months is about 38 TB before headroom and backups.

What is the difference between MB/s and Mbps?

A byte is 8 bits, so a rate in megabytes per second (MB/s) is the rate in megabits per second (Mb/s or Mbps) divided by 8. Apple lists ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 24p as 707 Mb/s, which is about 88 MB/s. A capital B means bytes and a lowercase b means bits. Drive and file sizes use bytes, and network and internet speeds use bits.

Why does my 16 TB drive show less capacity on my computer?

Drives are sold in decimal terabytes (1 TB is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes), and some operating systems show capacity in binary tebibytes (1 TiB is 1,099,511,627,776 bytes). A 16 TB drive is about 14.55 TiB before any formatting overhead. This calculator works in decimal TB and shows TiB beside the result.

Which RAID level should a small editing team use?

RAID 5 uses one drive for parity, RAID 6 uses two and RAID 10 mirrors every drive, so half the raw space is usable. RAID 6 and RAID 10 tolerate more failures than RAID 5, and many vendors suggest two-drive protection for arrays of large drives. Follow your storage vendor's guidance for your model. None of them replaces a backup.

How many editors can stream from one gigabit link?

Divide the link's working ceiling by the data rate of one stream. A gigabit link carries about 110 MB/s in practice. ProRes 422 HQ at 1920 x 1080 24p is 176 Mb/s, which is 22 MB/s, so about 5 streams fit. At UHD 24p the same codec is about 88 MB/s, so one stream nearly fills the link. The calculator does this for the codec you pick.

How much storage does a small editing team need?

Enter how much footage you shoot, in what format and how long you keep it, and this calculator turns it into terabytes. It also shows what a RAID 5, RAID 6 or RAID 10 array has to be to hold that much, and a rough ceiling for how many video streams a gigabit or 10 gigabit network link can carry.

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Quick answer

Storage needed = hours shot per month x data per hour x months kept online, plus headroom for growth, times the number of copies you keep. As one example from Apple's published ProRes rates, an hour of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 24p is about 318 GB, so 20 hours a month kept for 6 months is about 38 TB before headroom and backups. Your own numbers will differ, so enter them below.

Your team

Editors on the team

Streams per editor

Video tracks playing at once.

Your footage

Hours of footage shot per month

Camera originals for the whole team.

Camera codec and resolution

Vendor figure: 707 Mb/s, which is 88.38 MB/s (318.2 GB per hour). Source: Apple ProRes White Paper, Target Data Rates (appendix).

Proxies

Do editors work on proxies?

NoEdit the camera files.YesSmall copies stored too.

Keep and protect

Months kept online

Backup copies

2 is the 3-2-1 rule.

Growth headroom

Extra room for growth and free space.

Storage array

RAID level

RAID 5RAID 6RAID 10

usable = (drives minus 2) x drive size.

Drive size

Capacity needed, per copy

47.7 TB

43.4 TiB as many operating systems report it. Across all 3 copies: 143 TB.

Per month: 6.36 TB
Kept 6 months: 38.2 TB

The arithmetic, step by step

1. Data per hour of footage: 318.2 GB/h
88.38 MB/s x 3,600 s / 1,000 = 318.2 GB per hour
2. Camera originals per month: 6.36 TB
20.0 h x 318.2 GB/h / 1,000 = 6.36 TB
3. Kept online: 38.2 TB
6.36 TB per month x 6 months = 38.2 TB
4. With growth headroom: 47.7 TB per copy
38.2 TB x (1 + 25 / 100) = 47.7 TB
5. Across every copy: 143 TB
47.7 TB x 3 copies (1 primary + 2 backup) = 143 TB
6. Drives for the primary copy (RAID 6): 5 x 16 TB = 80 TB raw, 48 TB usable
47.7 TB / 16 TB drives = 3 data drives; usable = (drives minus 2) x drive size; 5 drives gives (5 minus 2) x 16 TB = 48 TB

Usable capacity after RAID overhead

For 47.7 TB usable with 16 TB drives, RAID 6 needs 5 drives (80 TB raw, 48 TB usable). Survives two failed drives at once.

A common choice for editing storage built from large drives, at the cost of two drives of capacity.

RAID levels compared for the same capacity
Level	Formula	Drives	Raw	Usable
RAID 5	(drives minus 1) x drive size	4	64 TB	48 TB
RAID 6	(drives minus 2) x drive size	5	80 TB	48 TB
RAID 10	(drives / 2) x drive size	6	96 TB	48 TB

RAID keeps an array running through a failed drive. It is not a backup. Check your storage vendor's guidance for the level that suits drives of this size.

Streams a network link can carry

A rough ceiling, worked out as the link's working speed divided by the codec's data rate. 1 gigabit Ethernet carries about 110 MB/s in practice (the line rate is 125 MB/s), and 10 gigabit about 1,100 MB/s. Everyone on the link shares it.

Camera originals at 88.4 MB/s: about 1 stream on 1 gigabit, about 12 streams on 10 gigabit (demand if everyone plays at once: 6).

Your 3 editors at 2 streams each could ask for up to 6 at once. That is more than 1 gigabit carries, and fits within the 10 gigabit ceiling on paper.

Assumptions

What this tool takes for granted. If one of these is wrong for you, treat the result accordingly.

Decimal units: 1 TB is 1,000 GB, the way drives are sold. A binary figure in TiB is shown beside it, because many systems report capacity that way.
Data rates are the vendor's published rates for the codec, resolution and frame rate you pick. Real files vary with the image, and variable bit rate codecs can run above or below the target.
The same amount of footage arrives every month, nothing is deleted until the retention period ends, and each backup copy holds the same data as the primary.
Headroom covers growth and free space. Shared storage tends to slow down when it is nearly full, so plan to stay well below the limit.
RAID sizing counts parity or mirror drives only. Formatting, snapshots and hot spares take more space. Check what your storage vendor reports as usable.
Network ceilings are rough: about 110 MB/s for 1 gigabit and 1,100 MB/s for 10 gigabit, shared by everyone on the link. The storage, the protocol and other traffic can lower them.
RAID is not a backup. It keeps the array running through a failed drive, and does nothing about deleted files, ransomware or a fire.

Where the data rates come from

Apple ProRes White Paper, Target Data Rates (appendix). Target rates in Mb/s for frame sizes and frame rates. ProRes is variable bit rate, so real files land close to the target but not exactly on it.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro, tech specs (Storage Rates). Constant bitrate Blackmagic RAW rates in MB/s, quoted by Blackmagic for 30 fps. Blackmagic says actual rates depend on the image.
ARRI ALEXA 35 User Manual (SUP 4.0.0), appendix 25.1 Data Rates. ARRIRAW rates in GB/h at 24 fps, including audio, for ALEXA 35 sensor modes. Other ARRI cameras and frame rates differ.
Sony ZV-E10 Help Guide, Movie recording formats. Sony lists XAVC S (H.264) bit-rates of about 100 and 60 Mbps for 4K, and 100, 60, 50, 25 or 16 Mbps for HD. Other cameras and codecs differ, so use your camera manual for the exact setting.

Units

1 TB = 1,000 GB = 1,000,000 MB (decimal, as sold). 1 TiB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, so 1 TB is about 0.909 TiB. 1 MB/s = 8 Mb/s.

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Tell us what you see on screen. A person on our production consulting team reads it and replies, usually with the first thing to check.

How the capacity is worked out

Every codec has a data rate, which is how many bytes a second of video takes. Multiply it by 3,600 and you get the bytes in an hour. Multiply that by the hours you shoot in a month and the months you keep a project on fast storage, and you have the capacity for one copy. Proxies, when you use them, add their own smaller stream of data.

Then come two practical additions. Headroom leaves room for growth and for keeping the array from filling to the brim. Backup copies multiply the total, because each copy needs the same space as the first. The page shows each step with your numbers so you can check it or change it.

Why the network matters as much as the capacity

A team can have plenty of terabytes and still stutter, because every stream of video travels over the network. A single 1 gigabit link carries about 110 MB/s in practice, and everything on it shares that. High bitrate footage uses a large part of it per stream, so the calculator divides the link ceiling by the rate of the codec you picked to show how many streams fit.

That is a ceiling, not a promise. The disks, the file sharing settings and the other people on the network all take a share. Treat the figure as a way to spot a link that is obviously too small, and test with real footage.

Questions about storage sizing

How many terabytes does a small video team need?: It depends on the footage, so there is no single answer. Multiply the data rate of your codec by the hours you shoot per month and the months you keep projects online, add headroom, then multiply by the number of copies you keep. As an example from Apple's published rates, an hour of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 24p is about 318 GB, so 20 hours a month for 6 months is about 38 TB before headroom and backups.
What is the difference between MB/s and Mbps?: A byte is 8 bits, so a rate in megabytes per second (MB/s) is the rate in megabits per second (Mb/s or Mbps) divided by 8. Apple lists ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 24p as 707 Mb/s, which is about 88 MB/s. A capital B means bytes and a lowercase b means bits. Drive and file sizes use bytes, and network and internet speeds use bits.
Why does my 16 TB drive show less capacity on my computer?: Drives are sold in decimal terabytes (1 TB is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes), and some operating systems show capacity in binary tebibytes (1 TiB is 1,099,511,627,776 bytes). A 16 TB drive is about 14.55 TiB before any formatting overhead. This calculator works in decimal TB and shows TiB beside the result.
Which RAID level should a small editing team use?: RAID 5 uses one drive for parity, RAID 6 uses two and RAID 10 mirrors every drive, so half the raw space is usable. RAID 6 and RAID 10 tolerate more failures than RAID 5, and many vendors suggest two-drive protection for arrays of large drives. Follow your storage vendor's guidance for your model. None of them replaces a backup.
How many editors can stream from one gigabit link?: Divide the link's working ceiling by the data rate of one stream. A gigabit link carries about 110 MB/s in practice. ProRes 422 HQ at 1920 x 1080 24p is 176 Mb/s, which is 22 MB/s, so about 5 streams fit. At UHD 24p the same codec is about 88 MB/s, so one stream nearly fills the link. The calculator does this for the codec you pick.

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