Video Bitrate Calculator
Get the recommended video bitrate for a resolution and frame rate, for H.264 and H.265, based on YouTube's published upload guidelines. Runs in your browser.
Standard frame rate (SFR)
Recommended video bitrate
- H.264 / AVC (SDR)
- 8 Mbps
- H.265 / HEVC (≈ half)
- 4 Mbps
Figures are YouTube's recommended SDR upload bitrates for H.264. H.265/HEVC and VP9 reach comparable quality at roughly half the bitrate. Treat these as starting points — the right value depends on motion and scene complexity.
About this tool
Bitrate is the main lever for video quality versus file size: too low and you get blocking and smearing, too high and you waste storage and bandwidth for no visible gain. There is no single 'correct' number, but the major platforms publish recommended ranges, and this tool surfaces them for the resolution and frame rate you choose. The figures are YouTube's recommended SDR upload bitrates for H.264 — the most widely referenced public guideline — which scale with resolution (1080p around 8 Mbps, 4K around 35–45 Mbps) and step up for high frame rates above 30 fps. It also estimates the equivalent H.265/HEVC target, since the newer codec reaches comparable quality at roughly half the bitrate (VP9 and AV1 are similar). These are starting points: footage with lots of motion, grain, or fine detail needs more, while static talking-head video can use less. Everything is computed locally from a built-in table.
How to use it
- Choose the output resolution.
- Enter the frame rate — above 30 fps switches to the high-frame-rate recommendation.
- Read the recommended H.264 bitrate and the H.265 equivalent.
- Use it as a starting encoder target, then adjust for your content's complexity.
Frequently asked questions
- Where do these numbers come from?
- They are YouTube's recommended upload bitrates for standard-dynamic-range H.264 video, the most commonly cited public reference. Other platforms (Vimeo, Twitch, Facebook) publish similar ranges; these make a sound default for general encoding.
- Why does H.265 need a lower bitrate than H.264?
- H.265/HEVC uses more efficient compression — better motion prediction and larger, more flexible block sizes — so it achieves the same perceived quality at roughly 40–50% less bitrate. The trade-off is higher encoding CPU cost and slightly less universal device support.
- What changes at high frame rates?
- Higher frame rates (48, 50, 60 fps and up) carry more frames per second, so they need more bitrate to keep each frame at the same quality. YouTube recommends roughly 1.5× the standard-frame-rate bitrate, which this tool applies when fps exceeds 30.
- Should I use constant or variable bitrate?
- For uploads to platforms that re-encode, a high-quality variable bitrate (VBR) targeting these figures is ideal. For live streaming, constant bitrate (CBR) at the recommended value gives predictable bandwidth. The recommendation here is the target average either way.
- Do these account for audio?
- No — they are video-only bitrates. Add your audio bitrate (commonly 128–384 kbps) on top to get the total muxed stream bitrate, which matters for streaming-bandwidth and file-size budgeting.
- Is anything uploaded?
- No. The recommendation comes from a built-in table and is selected entirely in your browser.