Audio Bitrate & File Size Calculator
Compute uncompressed PCM audio bitrate and file size per minute from sample rate, bit depth, and channel count.
Result
- Bitrate1,411.20 kbps (1.411 Mbps)
- Data rate172.3 KiB/s
- Per minute10.09 MiB
- Total for 3 min30.28 MiB (31.8 MB)
Step-by-step
- Bitrate = sample rate × bit depth × channels = 44,100 × 16 × 2 = 1,411,200 bits/s.
- Bytes per second = 1,411,200 ÷ 8 = 176,400 B/s.
- Per minute = 176,400 × 60 = 10,584,000 bytes ≈ 10.09 MiB.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the sample rate in Hz (44100 for CD, 48000 for video/pro audio).
- Select the bit depth and the number of channels.
- Enter a duration in minutes to get the total file size.
- Read the bitrate in kbps and the file size per minute and total.
About this calculator
Uncompressed digital audio (PCM, as stored in WAV and AIFF files) has a bitrate set entirely by three numbers: the sample rate, the bit depth, and the number of channels. Multiply them together and you get the bitrate in bits per second; divide by eight for bytes, and multiply by the duration for total file size. CD-quality audio — 44,100 samples per second, 16 bits per sample, 2 channels — works out to 1,411,200 bits per second, or about 10.1 MiB per minute. Higher sample rates and bit depths (used in professional and hi-res audio) raise the rate proportionally, as do extra channels for surround sound. These figures are for uncompressed audio; lossy formats like MP3 and AAC store far less, and lossless formats like FLAC shrink PCM by roughly half without losing data.
How it works — the formula
Bitrate (bit/s) = Sample rate × Bit depth × Channels
Bytes/s = Bitrate ÷ 8
File size = Bytes/s × Duration (s)Uncompressed PCM stores every sample at full precision, so the data rate is just the product of how often, how precisely, and how many streams are recorded. File size is the data rate times the length.
Worked examples
- Inputs:
- sampleRate=44100, bitDepth=16, channels=2
- Output:
- 1,411 kbps · 10.1 MiB/min
- Inputs:
- sampleRate=48000, bitDepth=24, channels=2
- Output:
- 2,304 kbps · 16.5 MiB/min
- Inputs:
- sampleRate=96000, bitDepth=24, channels=6
- Output:
- 13,824 kbps
Limitations
- Covers uncompressed PCM only — not lossy or lossless codecs.
- Ignores file container/header overhead (a few KB).
- 32-bit float is treated as 32 bits per sample.
PCM figures are exact; compressed-format sizes depend on the codec and settings.