How Many Hours of Video Can 512GB Hold?
512 GB holds about 21 h 28 min of consumer 4K at 30 frames per second, about 1 d 21 h of 1080p, and about 1 h 17 min of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD. At this size the interesting figure stops being hours and starts being megabytes per second, which is what decides whether the camera can write to the card at all.
Open the full calculator for codecs, audio and safety margin.
Every format, on 512 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 | 1 d 21 h | 186.3 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 1080p 60 fps, standard bit rate | 37.18 Mbps | 1 d 6 h | 278.9 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 4K 30 fps, standard bit rate | 53 Mbps | 21 h 28 min | 397.5 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 4K 30 fps, high bit rate | 103.4 Mbps | 11 h 0 min | 775.8 MB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 4K 60 fps, high bit rate | 138.8 Mbps | 8 h 12 min | 1.041 GB | GoPro capacity chart |
| GoPro HERO13 Black 5.3K 60 fps, high bit rate | 138.8 Mbps | 8 h 12 min | 1.041 GB | GoPro capacity chart |
| YouTube 1080p upload target, 30 fps | 8 Mbps | 5 d 22 h | 60 MB | YouTube |
| YouTube 1080p upload target, 60 fps | 12 Mbps | 3 d 22 h | 90 MB | YouTube |
| YouTube 4K upload target, 30 fps, low end of the range | 35 Mbps | 1 d 8 h | 262.5 MB | YouTube |
| YouTube 4K upload target, 30 fps, high end of the range | 45 Mbps | 1 d 1 h | 337.5 MB | YouTube |
| ProRes 422 Proxy, HD 1080 30p | 45 Mbps | 1 d 1 h | 337.5 MB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 HQ, HD 1080 30p | 220 Mbps | 5 h 10 min | 1.65 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 Proxy, UHD 4K 30p | 182 Mbps | 6 h 15 min | 1.365 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 HQ, UHD 4K 24p | 707 Mbps | 1 h 36 min | 5.303 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 422 HQ, UHD 4K 30p | 884 Mbps | 1 h 17 min | 6.63 GB | Apple white paper |
| ProRes 4444, DCI 4K 24p | 1.131 Gbps | 1 h 0 min | 8.483 GB | Apple white paper |
| Blackmagic RAW 12:1, 6K DCI 24 fps | 477.8 Mbps | 2 h 22 min | 3.583 GB | Blackmagic ratio, derived |
| Blackmagic RAW 5:1, 6K DCI 24 fps | 1.147 Gbps | 59 min 32 s | 8.6 GB | Blackmagic ratio, derived |
| Blackmagic RAW 3:1, 6K DCI 24 fps | 1.911 Gbps | 35 min 43 s | 14.33 GB | Blackmagic ratio, derived |
ProRes on 512 GB
Apple publishes a target data rate for every supported frame size and frame rate in the Apple ProRes white paper. This is the table this capacity exists for. Half a terabyte is the first size where a serious ProRes format is measured in hours rather than minutes.
| Format | 422 Proxy | 422 LT | 422 | 422 HQ | 4444 | 4444 XQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HD 1920 x 1080 24p | 1 d 7 h | 13 h 52 min | 9 h 43 min | 6 h 27 min | 4 h 18 min | 2 h 52 min |
| HD 1920 x 1080 30p | 1 d 1 h | 11 h 9 min | 7 h 44 min | 5 h 10 min | 3 h 26 min | 2 h 17 min |
| UHD 3840 x 2160 24p | 7 h 50 min | 3 h 28 min | 2 h 24 min | 1 h 36 min | 1 h 4 min | 42 min 54 s |
| UHD 3840 x 2160 30p | 6 h 15 min | 2 h 46 min | 1 h 55 min | 1 h 17 min | 51 min 29 s | 34 min 19 s |
| DCI 4K 4096 x 2160 24p | 7 h 20 min | 3 h 15 min | 2 h 15 min | 1 h 30 min | 1 h 0 min | 40 min 14 s |
GoPro on 512 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. These are their figures scaled by 4.
| Mode | High bit rate | Standard bit rate |
|---|---|---|
| 5.3K 60 fps | 8 h 12 min | 16 h 0 min |
| 5.3K 30 fps | 8 h 16 min | 17 h 44 min |
| 5.3K 24 fps | 8 h 16 min | 19 h 24 min |
| 4K 120 fps | 8 h 8 min | 12 h 44 min |
| 4K 60 fps | 8 h 12 min | 17 h 24 min |
| 4K 30 fps | 11 h 0 min | 21 h 28 min |
| 4K 24 fps | 13 h 8 min | 1 d 7 h |
| 2.7K 240 fps | 8 h 8 min | 13 h 32 min |
| 1080p 240 fps | 8 h 12 min | 14 h 52 min |
| 1080p 120 fps | 10 h 40 min | 20 h 24 min |
| 1080p 60 fps | 14 h 52 min | 1 d 6 h |
| 1080p 30 fps | 1 d 0 h | 1 d 21 h |
What 512 GB really is
A 512 GB card is SDXC, formatted exFAT. Those boundaries come from the SD Association capacity overview.
Your computer will report this card as roughly 476.8 GiB, because the operating system divides by 1024 three times and keeps writing GB on the screen. Both numbers describe the same 512,000,000,000 bytes. All decimal bytes here, matching the card label and the units Apple and Blackmagic use for the data rates this page is built on.
Cards this size are usually paired with cameras that write fast, which means the sustained write speed matters more than the capacity. A card that cannot hold its rate will stop a take regardless of how much room is left.
What this capacity is good for
Cinema camera territory. Around an hour and a half of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p, or a full day of anything a consumer camera can produce.
The division, and the second one nobody does
Capacity is one division. Speed is another, and on a card this size the second one matters more.
512 GB is 512,000,000,000 bytes, so 4,096,000,000,000 bits. Apple publishes ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p as 884 Mbps. Divide and you get 1 h 17 min on the card.
Now the other division. That same 884 Mbps is 110.5 megabytes every second, held for the whole take. If the card cannot do that, the hours in the table are irrelevant, because the recording stops on take two.
What one hour costs on 512 GB
The tables give hours. Here is the cost per hour instead, which is the figure that turns a shooting schedule into a media order.
- One hour of consumer 1080p 30, at 24.8 Mbps, is 11.2 GB, which is 2.2 percent of it.
- One hour of consumer 4K 30, at 53 Mbps, is 23.9 GB, which is 4.7 percent of it.
- One hour of a 4K delivery file at the YouTube target of 40 Mbps is 18 GB, which is 3.5 percent of it.
- One hour of Blackmagic RAW 12:1 at 6K DCI 24 fps is 215 GB, which is 42 percent of it.
- One hour of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p is 397.8 GB, which is 78 percent of it.
Divide any of those data rates by eight and you have the megabytes per second the card must sustain while it records them. That number, not the capacity, is what ends takes on a camera like this.
At this size the card stops failing on space and starts failing on speed
Capacity is no longer what stops you here. A card this size is normally bought for a camera that writes an intermediate or raw codec, and those cameras do not care how much room is left if the card cannot accept bits fast enough. A full card ends a take politely. A slow card ends it with a dropped frame or an aborted clip, usually on the take you wanted.
The number that matters is megabytes per second, and it comes out of the same data rates in the tables above by dividing by eight. ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p, published by Apple as 884 Mbps, needs 110.5 MB per second, every second, for as long as you roll. ProRes 4444 at DCI 4K 24p needs 141.4 MB per second. Blackmagic RAW 3:1 at 6K DCI 24 fps, derived from the ratio Blackmagic publishes, needs 239 MB per second. Consumer 4K 30 needs 6.6, which is why an ordinary card is fine for it and not fine for the rest.
Cards carry a video speed class mark for exactly this, and it describes a minimum sustained write rate rather than the large number on the front of the package. The number on the front is usually the read speed, which is the least useful figure printed on a memory card. Match the class to the megabytes per second your format actually needs, using the figures above, and ignore the marketing number.
What half a terabyte buys you in time
512 GB holds about 1 h 17 min of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p, about 59 min 32 s of Blackmagic RAW 5:1 at 6K DCI 24 fps, and about 21 h 28 min of consumer 4K 30. That first figure is the one that decides a schedule. An hour and a half of heavy codec is a block of the day, not the day.
Which is the practical reason cards this size travel in pairs on a cinema job. Not for the capacity, but so that the camera never waits for a copy to finish.
Common questions
How many hours of video can 512GB hold?
It depends on the data rate. At consumer 4K 30 fps, using GoPro published figures, 512 GB holds about 21 h 28 min. At 1080p 30 it holds about 1 d 21 h. At ProRes 422 HQ UHD 30p, which Apple publishes as 884 Mbps, it holds about 1 h 17 min.
How many hours of 4K video can 512GB hold?
At a consumer 4K bitrate of about 53 Mbps, roughly 21 h 28 min. At the higher bitrate setting the same camera cuts that to about 11 h 0 min. Professional codecs are far heavier: ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p gives about 1 h 17 min.
How long can you record 4K on 512GB?
The card holds about 21 h 28 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 512GB hold?
At the 24.8 Mbps that GoPro published times imply for 1080p 30, about 1 d 21 h. A finished delivery file is much lighter: at the YouTube 1080p upload target of 8 Mbps, 512 GB holds about 5 d 22 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.
What write speed does a 512 GB card need for the format I shoot?
Take the data rate from the table above and divide by eight to get megabytes per second. ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p needs 110.5 MB per second sustained, ProRes 4444 at DCI 4K 24p needs 141.4, Blackmagic RAW 3:1 at 6K DCI 24 fps needs about 239, and consumer 4K 30 needs 6.6. Compare that with the video speed class marked on the card, not with the large read speed on the front of the package.
How long does 512 GB record in ProRes?
Using Apple published target data rates: about 1 h 17 min of 422 HQ at UHD 30p, about 1 h 36 min of 422 HQ at UHD 24p, and about 1 h 0 min of 4444 at DCI 4K 24p. The full table further up this page covers every frame size and codec Apple publishes.
Why did my camera stop recording when the card was not full?
Almost always speed rather than space. If the card cannot sustain the megabytes per second the format demands, the camera aborts the clip rather than write a corrupt one. Heat and per clip limits do the same thing for different reasons. Check the sustained write rating against the figures above before blaming the capacity.