How Many Hours of Video Can 128GB Hold?
128 GB holds about 5 h 22 min of consumer 4K at 30 frames per second, about 11 h 27 min of 1080p, and about 19 min 18 s of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD. This is also the one capacity where the manufacturer publishes its own answer, so the page below can be checked against GoPro rather than against another calculator.
Open the full calculator for codecs, audio and safety margin.
Every format, on 128 GB
Each line is a published data rate or a documented derivation, never an estimate invented to fill a row. The source is in the last column, and it links to the document it came from: the Apple ProRes white paper, the GoPro HERO13 Black capacity chart, YouTube recommended upload encoding settings and the Blackmagic RAW data rate calculator. The full trail is on the sources page.
| Format | Data rate | Recording time | Per minute | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoPro HERO13 Black 1080p 30 fps, standard bit rate | 24.84 Mbps | 11 h 27 min | 186.3 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 1080p 60 fps, standard bit rate | 37.18 Mbps | 7 h 39 min | 278.9 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 4K 30 fps, standard bit rate | 53 Mbps | 5 h 22 min | 397.5 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 4K 30 fps, high bit rate | 103.4 Mbps | 2 h 45 min | 775.8 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 4K 60 fps, high bit rate | 138.8 Mbps | 2 h 3 min | 1.041 GB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 5.3K 60 fps, high bit rate | 138.8 Mbps | 2 h 3 min | 1.041 GB | GoPro capacity chart |
| YouTube 1080p upload target, 30 fps | 8 Mbps | 1 d 11 h | 60 MB | YouTube |
| YouTube 1080p upload target, 60 fps | 12 Mbps | 23 h 42 min | 90 MB | YouTube |
| YouTube 4K upload target, 30 fps, low end of the range | 35 Mbps | 8 h 7 min | 262.5 MB | YouTube |
| YouTube 4K upload target, 30 fps, high end of the range | 45 Mbps | 6 h 19 min | 337.5 MB | YouTube |
| ProRes 422 Proxy, HD 1080 30p | 45 Mbps | 6 h 19 min | 337.5 MB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 HQ, HD 1080 30p | 220 Mbps | 1 h 17 min | 1.65 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 Proxy, UHD 4K 30p | 182 Mbps | 1 h 33 min | 1.365 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 HQ, UHD 4K 24p | 707 Mbps | 24 min 8 s | 5.303 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 HQ, UHD 4K 30p | 884 Mbps | 19 min 18 s | 6.63 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 4444, DCI 4K 24p | 1.131 Gbps | 15 min 5 s | 8.483 GB | Apple white paper |
| Blackmagic RAW 12:1, 6K DCI 24 fps | 477.8 Mbps | 35 min 43 s | 3.583 GB | Blackmagic ratio, derived |
| Blackmagic RAW 5:1, 6K DCI 24 fps | 1.147 Gbps | 14 min 53 s | 8.6 GB | Blackmagic ratio, derived |
| Blackmagic RAW 3:1, 6K DCI 24 fps | 1.911 Gbps | 8 min 56 s | 14.33 GB | Blackmagic ratio, derived |
ProRes on 128 GB
Apple publishes a target data rate for every supported frame size and frame rate in the Apple ProRes white paper. This is the capacity where ProRes stops being a whole day and becomes a setup, so the table below is worth reading before you promise anybody a shooting order.
| Format | 422 Proxy | 422 LT | 422 | 422 HQ | 4444 | 4444 XQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HD 1920 x 1080 24p | 7 h 54 min | 3 h 28 min | 2 h 25 min | 1 h 36 min | 1 h 4 min | 43 min 6 s |
| HD 1920 x 1080 30p | 6 h 19 min | 2 h 47 min | 1 h 56 min | 1 h 17 min | 51 min 43 s | 34 min 29 s |
| UHD 3840 x 2160 24p | 1 h 57 min | 52 min 2 s | 36 min 14 s | 24 min 8 s | 16 min 5 s | 10 min 44 s |
| UHD 3840 x 2160 30p | 1 h 33 min | 41 min 38 s | 28 min 59 s | 19 min 18 s | 12 min 52 s | 8 min 35 s |
| DCI 4K 4096 x 2160 24p | 1 h 50 min | 48 min 46 s | 33 min 56 s | 22 min 38 s | 15 min 5 s | 10 min 3 s |
GoPro on 128 GB
GoPro publishes recording times for the HERO13 Black on a 128 GB card in its GoPro HERO13 Black capacity chart, and states that you can scale them to your own card. This is that card, so these are GoPro figures unchanged.
| Mode | High bit rate | Standard bit rate |
|---|---|---|
| 5.3K 60 fps | 2 h 3 min | 4 h 0 min |
| 5.3K 30 fps | 2 h 4 min | 4 h 26 min |
| 5.3K 24 fps | 2 h 4 min | 4 h 51 min |
| 4K 120 fps | 2 h 2 min | 3 h 11 min |
| 4K 60 fps | 2 h 3 min | 4 h 21 min |
| 4K 30 fps | 2 h 45 min | 5 h 22 min |
| 4K 24 fps | 3 h 17 min | 7 h 53 min |
| 2.7K 240 fps | 2 h 2 min | 3 h 23 min |
| 1080p 240 fps | 2 h 3 min | 3 h 43 min |
| 1080p 120 fps | 2 h 40 min | 5 h 6 min |
| 1080p 60 fps | 3 h 43 min | 7 h 39 min |
| 1080p 30 fps | 6 h 1 min | 11 h 27 min |
What 128 GB really is
A 128 GB card sits inside the SDXC standard, formatted exFAT, so single files can be any size the camera wants to write. Those boundaries come from the SD Association capacity overview.
Your computer will report this card as roughly 119.2 GiB, because the operating system divides by 1024 three times and keeps writing GB on the screen. Both numbers describe the same 128,000,000,000 bytes. This page uses the decimal reading, the one printed on the card, and so do Apple, Blackmagic and GoPro in the figures it quotes from them.
This is the size manufacturers publish their capacity charts for, GoPro included, which makes it the one capacity where you can check a calculator against the maker rather than against another calculator.
What this capacity is good for
The most common card in a working bag, and the most searched capacity. It is a full day of 1080p, a comfortable day of consumer 4K, and about twenty minutes of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD.
The division, and the reason it can be trusted
One division produces every number on this page, and on this capacity you can watch it agree with the manufacturer.
128 GB is 128,000,000,000 bytes, so 1,024,000,000,000 bits. A camera writing 53 Mbps, which is what GoPro published times imply for 4K 30 on the standard setting, spends 53,000,000 bits every second. Divide one by the other and you get 5 h 22 min, which is the figure GoPro prints in its own chart for a card of exactly this size.
That is the whole argument for the other six capacity pages. The method was checked here, against a published answer, before it was used anywhere a published answer does not exist.
What one hour costs on 128 GB
The tables read the question one way. Here it is the other way round, because a shooting day is planned in hours and what you need is the cost of each one.
- One hour of consumer 1080p 30, at 24.8 Mbps, is 11.2 GB, which is 8.7 percent of it.
- One hour of consumer 4K 30, at 53 Mbps, is 23.9 GB, which is 19 percent of it.
- One hour of a 4K delivery file at the YouTube target of 40 Mbps is 18 GB, which is 14 percent of it.
- One hour of Blackmagic RAW 12:1 at 6K DCI 24 fps is 215 GB, which is 1.7 times the whole card.
- One hour of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p is 397.8 GB, which is 3.1 times the whole card.
The same hour of the same event costs about 36 times more in ProRes 422 HQ than in consumer 1080p. Both are legitimate choices. Choosing without knowing that ratio is not.
The one capacity you can check against the manufacturer
Every other page on this site scales a published figure. This one does not have to, and that makes it the page to test a calculator against, including this one.
GoPro publishes its HERO13 Black recording times on a 128 GB card. Not scaled, not derived, printed. The chart says 5 h 22 min at 4K 30 on the standard bit rate setting. Work backwards from it and the implied data rate is 53 Mbps. Now run that rate forward through the arithmetic every calculator uses, capacity in bytes times eight divided by bits per second, and you land on 5 h 22 min again. The manufacturer and the formula agree, and neither was told the other answer.
That closed loop is the whole reason to trust the other six capacity pages. The method has been checked where a published answer exists, so it can be used where one does not.
It is also the reason to be suspicious of any page that gives you a single number for this card without naming a codec. On the same 128 GB, consumer 4K 30 gives 5 h 22 min and ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p, which Apple publishes as 884 Mbps, gives 19 min 18 s. That is a factor of about 17. A page that averages those two into one friendly figure is not simplifying, it is guessing.
The card that is actually in the bag
This is the capacity most people own and most people search for, which is why it is the one the manufacturers picked for their charts in the first place. It is a full day of 1080p, a comfortable day of consumer 4K, and about 19 min 18 s of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD, which is one long setup and no more.
If you are buying cards for a mixed job, this is the size where the answer stops being obvious and starts depending on the format menu above. Read the row for what you actually shoot.
Common questions
How many hours of video can 128GB hold?
It depends on the data rate. At consumer 4K 30 fps, using GoPro published figures, 128 GB holds about 5 h 22 min. At 1080p 30 it holds about 11 h 27 min. At ProRes 422 HQ UHD 30p, which Apple publishes as 884 Mbps, it holds about 19 min 18 s.
How many hours of 4K video can 128GB hold?
At a consumer 4K bitrate of about 53 Mbps, roughly 5 h 22 min. At the higher bitrate setting the same camera cuts that to about 2 h 45 min. Professional codecs are far heavier: ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p gives about 19 min 18 s.
How long can you record 4K on 128GB?
The card holds about 5 h 22 min of consumer 4K at 30 fps, but holding it and recording it in one unbroken take are different things. Heat, battery life and per clip limits stop most cameras long before the media is full. Plan around the shooting day rather than around one long take.
How many hours of 1080p video can 128GB hold?
At the 24.8 Mbps that GoPro published times imply for 1080p 30, about 11 h 27 min. A finished delivery file is much lighter: at the YouTube 1080p upload target of 8 Mbps, 128 GB holds about 1 d 11 h. Camera footage and delivery files are different animals and the gap between them is the whole reason a single answer to this question does not exist.
How many movies can 128GB hold?
A film has no standard size, so the honest answer names a rate. A 90 minute film encoded at the YouTube 1080p upload target of 8 Mbps is 5.4 GB, so 128 GB holds about 23 of them. The same film at a 4K rate of 40 Mbps is 27 GB, which brings it down to about 4.
How long does 128GB record on a GoPro?
GoPro publishes its HERO13 Black times on a card of exactly this size, so these are their figures unchanged rather than anything scaled: about 5 h 22 min at 4K 30 standard, 2 h 45 min at 4K 30 high, 2 h 3 min at 5.3K 60 high, and 11 h 27 min at 1080p 30 standard. GoPro states these are estimates in a static environment and that the bit rate is highly variable with scene complexity.
Does an SD card, a flash drive and an SSD of 128GB hold the same amount of video?
Yes, exactly the same. A byte is a byte, so all three hold 128,000,000,000 of them and every recording time on this page applies to all three. What separates them is sustained write speed, which decides whether a camera can record to them at all without dropping frames, and that is a different specification printed in a different place on the box.