ProRes File Size Calculator: Size Per Minute

Q: Which ProRes should I use?

Work backwards from the job. If somebody has specified a variant, use theirs. If the files exist only to cut with and you will conform to camera originals later, 422 Proxy. If they are the files you will finish and grade, 422 for most work and 422 HQ when the delivery is broadcast or the material will be re-encoded several times. If there is an alpha channel, you have exactly two choices, because 4444 and 4444 XQ are the only ProRes codecs that support alpha.

Every target data rate Apple publishes for ProRes, all 58 frame size and frame rate combinations across the six codecs, turned into file sizes and recording times. Read straight out of the Apple ProRes white paper, not copied from another blog.

Who needs this, and what it answers

ProRes is an acquisition and mastering codec, so the people who need its numbers are the people making commitments before anyone has shot anything.

A producer ordering drives. You need gigabytes per hour per camera, multiplied by cameras, multiplied by days, then doubled for the backup. The result panel gives you all of it.
A DIT or data wrangler. You need megabytes per second, because that is what the media has to sustain without stuttering, and it is a different question from how much fits.
An editor deciding a transcode. You are about to turn a folder of camera files into an intermediate and you want to know what that costs before it starts rather than after.
Anybody handed a ProRes delivery spec. A broadcaster or an agency has named a variant. You want to know what the master will weigh so you can work out how you are going to send it.

How to turn one of these rates into a file size

The table gives you a data rate. Everything after that is one multiplication.

File size = data rate in bits per second x duration in seconds, divided by 8. Recording time = capacity in bytes x 8, divided by the data rate.

A worked case. A twelve minute interview, ProRes 422 at UHD 3840 x 2160 and 25p. Apple publishes 492 Mbps for that combination. So 492,000,000 x 720 seconds is 354,240,000,000 bits, divided by 8 is 44,280,000,000 bytes, or 44.3 GB. Two cameras on the same interview is 88.6 GB, and a working copy plus a backup makes it 177 GB before the edit has even opened.

Turn it around for a drive. A one terabyte drive at ProRes 4444 XQ, UHD 24p, which Apple publishes at 1,591 Mbps, holds 1 hour 23 minutes 48 seconds. That is the entire drive, for one camera, for less than a session.

The thing that catches people out is the frame rate, not the frame size. UHD at 60p is exactly double UHD at 30p in every column, because there are twice as many frames to encode. Budget for 4K, shoot 4K 60, and you run out of drives on the Wednesday.

Where this table comes from, and why that matters

Apple publishes a document called the Apple ProRes white paper. The April 2022 edition, document number 028-00500-A, ends with an appendix titled Target Data Rates that runs for three pages and lists, for every supported frame size and frame rate, the data rate of each of the six ProRes codecs in megabits per second and in gigabytes per hour.

That appendix is the table below. It was machine read out of the PDF rather than retyped, and then it was checked against itself. Apple prints both the Mb/s column and the GB/hr column, so the two have to agree: a rate in megabits per second, multiplied by 3600 seconds and divided by eight, has to produce Apple's own gigabytes per hour. It does, for all 348 cells, to within one unit of Apple's rounding. That check runs in the test suite for this site, and if it ever fails the tests fail.

Most ProRes calculators online show a handful of rounded numbers for 1080p and 4K. This one shows what Apple actually published, including the partial width HD formats that old camcorders record, the 2K full aperture size that scanned film lands in, and 8K at 60p, which is 16,970 Mb/s of ProRes 4444 XQ, or 7.6 terabytes an hour.

The six variants in plain terms

Apple describes the family in the same white paper, and the practical summary is short.

ProRes 422 Proxy. The offline format. Full resolution, tiny files, meant for editing away from the master.
ProRes 422 LT. More compressed than standard 422, for jobs where storage is the constraint.
ProRes 422. The workhorse. Apple describes it as offering nearly all the benefit of HQ at about two thirds of the data rate. Final Cut renders to it by default.
ProRes 422 HQ. The delivery standard that most broadcasters and agencies ask for. Apple publishes 220 Mb/s at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps.
ProRes 4444. Full 4:4:4 chroma and an optional alpha channel that is encoded losslessly. The format for graphics and compositing, not just for camera masters.
ProRes 4444 XQ. The highest quality version, aimed at the widest dynamic range from modern sensors. Apple publishes roughly 500 Mb/s at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps.

Alpha changes the arithmetic. The rates in the table are the no alpha figures. Apple states that a lossless alpha channel usually adds only a small amount to the overall data rate, because an alpha channel is mostly the outline of an object rather than a picture, but it is not zero. If you are budgeting storage for a compositing job with alpha, leave room.

Target rate against actual rate

Apple is careful about the word target, and so is this calculator. ProRes is an intra frame codec that adapts a little to the image, so the real file lands close to the target rather than exactly on it. A locked off shot of a plain wall encodes slightly under. Confetti, foliage and rain encode slightly over. Over the length of a normal take the average is close enough that this arithmetic is the right way to plan a shoot, but it is still an estimate, and no honest page will tell you otherwise.

Apple puts a number on how far it can drift, and it is the most useful sentence in the whole white paper. ProRes has a maximum number of bits per frame that is never exceeded, and that maximum is approximately ten percent above the target. So the worst case is knowable. Take any figure on this page, add ten percent, and you have a ceiling the codec cannot go through.

In practice that means a ProRes budget is one of the few storage estimates you can genuinely rely on. Ninety minutes of ProRes 422 HQ at UHD 30p is 596.7 GB at target and cannot exceed roughly 656 GB. Compare that with a consumer camera on variable bitrate, where the manual quotes an average and the ceiling is anybody's guess.

Choosing a variant, using Apple's own descriptions

The six variants are not a quality slider with arbitrary stops. Apple describes what each one is for, and the rates follow that description rather than the other way round.

Storage is the constraint and the files are offline. ProRes 422 Proxy, which Apple describes as intended for offline workflows that need low data rates but full resolution video. At HD 1080 29.97 that is 45 Mbps, so an hour costs 20 GB.
Storage is tight but the files are the ones you will finish with. ProRes 422 LT. Apple puts it at roughly seventy percent of the data rate of standard 422 and about thirty percent smaller files. At HD 1080 29.97, 102 Mbps against 147.
The default working codec. ProRes 422, which Apple describes as offering nearly all the benefits of HQ at 66 percent of the data rate, for better multistream real time editing. At HD 1080 29.97, 147 Mbps, which is 66 GB an hour.
Somebody is going to broadcast or archive it. ProRes 422 HQ, described by Apple as visually lossless for 4:2:2 sources at 10 bit depths through many generations of decoding and re-encoding. At HD 1080 29.97, 220 Mbps, or 99 GB an hour.
Graphics, compositing, anything with a transparent background. ProRes 4444, which supports up to 12 bits per image channel and encodes an alpha channel losslessly up to 16 bits. At HD 1080 29.97, 330 Mbps.
Extreme dynamic range and heavy visual effects work. ProRes 4444 XQ, the highest quality version, which Apple built to survive having blacks and highlights stretched hard. At HD 1080 29.97, 495 Mbps.

Two comparisons put the whole family in perspective. Apple prints the uncompressed rates alongside its own: uncompressed 10 bit 4:2:2 at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps is 1,326 Mbps, and ProRes 422 HQ carries the same source at 220. Uncompressed 12 bit 4:4:4 at that size is 2,237 Mbps against 330 for ProRes 4444. That is the whole argument for the format in two numbers.

The complete Apple table

All values are megabits per second, as published. The frame rate labels are Apple's own, which is why you will see combined labels such as 60i, 30p on the interlaced sizes.

Apple target data rates in Mb/s. Source: Apple ProRes white paper, April 2022, document 028-00500-A, appendix pages 19 to 21.
Frame size	Frame rate	422 Proxy	422 LT	422	422 HQ	4444	4444 XQ
720 x 486	24p	10	23	34	50	75	113
	60i, 30p	12	29	42	63	94	141
720 x 576	50i, 25p	12	28	41	61	92	138
960 x 720	24p	15	35	50	75	113	170
	25p	16	36	52	79	118	177
	30p	19	44	63	94	141	212
	50p	32	73	105	157	236	354
	60p	38	87	126	189	283	424
1280 x 720	24p	18	41	59	88	132	198
	25p	19	42	61	92	138	206
	30p	23	51	73	110	165	247
	50p	38	84	122	184	275	413
	60p	45	101	147	220	330	495
1280 x 1080	24p	31	70	101	151	226	339
	60i, 30p	38	87	126	189	283	424
1440 x 1080	24p	31	70	101	151	226	339
	50i, 25p	32	73	105	157	236	354
	60i, 30p	38	87	126	189	283	424
1920 x 1080	24p	36	82	117	176	264	396
	50i, 25p	38	85	122	184	275	413
	60i, 30p	45	102	147	220	330	495
	50p	76	170	245	367	551	826
	60p	91	204	293	440	660	990
2048 x 1080	24p	41	93	134	201	302	453
	25p	43	97	140	210	315	472
	30p	52	116	168	251	377	566
	50p	86	194	280	419	629	944
	60p	103	232	335	503	754	1,131
2048 x 1556	24p	56	126	181	272	407	611
	25p	58	131	189	283	425	637
	30p	70	157	226	340	509	764
	50p	117	262	377	567	850	1,275
	60p	140	314	452	679	1,019	1,528
3840 x 2160	24p	145	328	471	707	1,061	1,591
	25p	151	342	492	737	1,106	1,659
	30p	182	410	589	884	1,326	1,989
	50p	303	684	983	1,475	2,212	3,318
	60p	363	821	1,178	1,768	2,652	3,977
4096 x 2160	24p	155	350	503	754	1,131	1,697
	25p	162	365	524	786	1,180	1,769
	30p	194	437	629	943	1,414	2,121
	50p	323	730	1,049	1,573	2,359	3,539
	60p	388	875	1,257	1,886	2,828	4,242
5120 x 2700	24p	243	547	786	1,178	1,768	2,652
	25p	253	570	819	1,229	1,843	2,765
	30p	304	684	982	1,473	2,210	3,314
	50p	507	1,140	1,638	2,458	3,686	5,530
	60p	608	1,367	1,964	2,946	4,419	6,629
6144 x 3240	24p	350	788	1,131	1,697	2,545	3,818
	25p	365	821	1,180	1,769	2,654	3,981
	30p	437	985	1,414	2,121	3,182	4,772
	50p	730	1,643	2,359	3,539	5,308	7,962
	60p	875	1,969	2,828	4,242	6,364	9,545
8192 x 4320	24p	622	1,400	2,011	3,017	4,525	6,788
	25p	649	1,460	2,097	3,146	4,719	7,078
	30p	778	1,750	2,514	3,771	5,657	8,485
	50p	1,298	2,920	4,194	6,291	9,437	14,156
	60p	1,556	3,500	5,028	7,542	11,313	16,970

Planning a shoot with these numbers

The way I use this table on a real job is not to look up a single figure. It is to compare two of them and make a decision I can defend.

An example. A one day commercial shoot, two cameras, UHD 3840 x 2160 at 25p, and a producer asking whether we can stay on ProRes 422 HQ or need to drop to 422. Apple publishes 737 Mb/s for HQ at that size and rate, and 492 Mb/s for standard 422. Over an eight hour day, if each camera rolls for two hours of actual recording, HQ costs about 664 gigabytes per camera and 422 costs about 443. Two cameras, so 1.3 terabytes against 886 gigabytes. That is the difference between one 2 TB drive with breathing room and two drives to keep the backup honest.

Neither answer is wrong. The point is that the conversation stops being about opinion and becomes about a number that came from Apple.

When this page is the wrong tool

Four situations where the number here will not answer your question, and what to do instead.

You are shooting ProRes RAW. It is a different codec with a different white paper, and Apple does not publish a comparable table of target data rates for it, because ProRes RAW is variable by design. This page will not pretend to know your rate. Shoot ten seconds, divide the megabytes by the seconds, multiply by eight, and take that figure to the storage calculator.

You are recording ProRes on an iPhone. That is tied to the phone model and the storage tier, and Apple publishes it separately from this white paper, so it is not in this table. The measure it yourself route works there too, and it takes less time than searching for the answer.

You are carrying an alpha channel. Every figure in the table is the no alpha figure, and Apple labels the 4444 columns that way. Apple notes that alpha channels usually contain just the information related to object outlines, so the optional alpha channel typically results in a small increase rather than a large one, but small is not zero. If you are budgeting a compositing job, leave room.

Your frame size is not in the table. Open gate, anamorphic desqueezes and sensor windows that Apple has not published a row for will not appear, and this calculator returns nothing rather than interpolating between two rows that Apple never connected. That refusal is deliberate. An invented number that looks authoritative is worse than an honest gap.

Common questions

How big is one minute of ProRes 422 HQ?

At 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps, Apple publishes 220 Mb/s, which is 1.65 GB per minute and 99 GB per hour. At UHD 3840 x 2160 and 30p it is 884 Mb/s, which is 6.6 GB per minute and 398 GB per hour.

How much ProRes fits on a 1 TB drive?

At ProRes 422 HQ UHD 24p, which Apple publishes as 707 Mb/s, a 1 TB drive holds about 3 hours 8 minutes. At ProRes 422 Proxy at the same size and rate it holds about 15 hours.

Are Apple ProRes data rates exact?

Apple calls them target data rates. ProRes adapts slightly to image complexity, so a real file lands close to the target rather than exactly on it. Apple also states that there is a maximum number of bits per frame that is never exceeded, roughly ten percent above the target, so the worst case is knowable. Plan with the target, and treat target plus ten percent as the ceiling.

Why are ProRes files so big?

Because ProRes is not trying to be small. It is an intra frame codec, which means every frame is encoded on its own with no reference to the frames around it, and that is what makes it fast to scrub, cut and re-encode without falling apart. Delivery codecs get their small files by describing most frames as differences from other frames, which is efficient to store and expensive to edit. ProRes 422 HQ at 220 Mbps is twenty seven times the YouTube 1080p upload target of 8 Mbps, and both numbers are correct for what they are for. A master is not a delivery.

How many Mbps is ProRes?

There is no single answer, which is the point of the full table. At 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps, Apple publishes 45 Mbps for 422 Proxy, 102 for 422 LT, 147 for 422, 220 for 422 HQ, 330 for 4444 and 495 for 4444 XQ. At UHD 3840 x 2160 and 30p the same six are 182, 410, 589, 884, 1,326 and 1,989. Frame size and frame rate move every one of them.

Is ProRes 422 HQ lossless?

No, and Apple does not claim it is. Apple describes ProRes 422 HQ as offering visually lossless preservation of 4:2:2 video at 10 bit depths, and as remaining visually lossless through many generations of decoding and re-encoding. Visually lossless and mathematically lossless are different claims. The one place Apple does use the word lossless without qualification is the alpha channel in the 4444 codecs, which it describes as mathematically lossless up to 16 bits.

Which ProRes should I use?

Work backwards from the job. If somebody else has specified a variant, use theirs. If the files are only there to cut with and you will conform to camera originals later, 422 Proxy. If they are the files you will finish and grade, 422 for most work and 422 HQ when the delivery is broadcast or the material will be re-encoded several times. If there is an alpha channel or the shot is going into a composite, you have exactly two choices, because 4444 and 4444 XQ are the only ProRes codecs that support alpha.

Is ProRes 422 LT good enough?

For a great deal of work, yes, and Apple positions it exactly there: a more compressed codec than 422, at roughly seventy percent of the data rate and about thirty percent smaller files, aimed at environments where storage capacity and data rate are at a premium. At UHD 24p that is 328 Mbps against 471 for standard 422, which is 148 GB an hour instead of 212. Where it stops being good enough is heavy grading and repeated re-encoding, because that is where the extra bits in 422 and HQ earn their keep.

Does ProRes support an alpha channel?

Only two of the six do. Apple states that ProRes 4444 XQ and ProRes 4444 are the only ProRes codecs that support alpha channels, and that they encode alpha losslessly at up to 16 bits. Every data rate in the table on this page is the no alpha figure, which is how Apple labels those two columns.

Is ProRes 422 10 bit?

ProRes 422 HQ is described by Apple as supporting full width 4:2:2 sources at 10 bit pixel depths, and the 422 family sits in that same 4:2:2 world. The 4444 codecs go further, up to 12 bits per image channel and up to 16 bits for the alpha channel. Bit depth is not what drives the data rate on its own, though. Frame size, frame rate and chroma sampling all move it, which is why the table has 58 rows instead of one.

How do I reduce a ProRes file size?

By choosing a different variant, not by adjusting a quality slider, because ProRes does not have one. That is the whole design: six fixed points, each with a published rate, so that everybody handling the file knows what they are getting. Dropping from 422 HQ to 422 at UHD 30p takes you from 884 Mbps to 589, which is a third off. Dropping to 422 LT takes you to 410. If you need something dramatically smaller than that, you do not need a smaller ProRes, you need a delivery codec.

Should I upload ProRes to YouTube or Vimeo?

There is little point. Both platforms re-encode whatever you send, and both publish the upload bitrates they actually want, which top out at 45 Mbps for 4K on YouTube and 60 on Vimeo. Sending a 884 Mbps master means hours of uploading to feed an encoder that will discard almost all of it. Export to the published target instead, and keep the ProRes as your master. The bitrate calculator has both sets of published figures.