Live Streaming Bandwidth Calculator

Convert viewers, duration, and bitrate into exact GB & TB bandwidth usage, and see what your stream will cost, before you go live.

Describe your live show(s)

viewers
minutes
visits / mo
minutes

Grab both numbers from your analytics: total unique viewers or sessions per month, and average session/watch duration.

kilobits

Quality presets fill in a typical bitrate for you. Know your encoder settings? Just type your exact bitrate. Using adaptive bitrate? Enter your mid-ladder rendition. Not sure what bitrate to pick? Find it with the bitrate calculator.

Bandwidth estimations

Recommended plan

Based on your average bitrate and how long viewers stay, a safe upper bound.

Know your bandwidth bill before your event, not after

Bandwidth is the single biggest cost in live streaming, and the easiest one to get surprised by. This free calculator converts your audience size, event length, and video bitrate into total data delivered, so you can budget your stream the same way CDN engineers do. When you're ready to go live, Livepush delivers your stream over Akamai's global edge network with bandwidth included in flat monthly plans.

Free, No Signup Instant GB & TB Estimates One-Time to 24/7 Schedules Plan Cost Recommendation

Trusted by world-class broadcasters

Teams from local stations, global networks, sports organisations, and Fortune 500 companies plan and deliver their streams with Livepush.

300K+
Live events delivered
50,000+
Broadcasters and organisations
500+
Live channels running now
5 PB
Bandwidth delivered

How is live streaming bandwidth calculated?

Every second your stream is live, each viewer downloads your video bitrate's worth of data. The math is simple: bitrate (kbps) ÷ 8 gives kilobytes per second, multiplied by event duration and audience size gives your total delivery bandwidth.

A 2,000 kbps stream sends 250 KB per second to each viewer, roughly 0.9 GB per viewer-hour. Fifty viewers watching a one-hour show is 45 GB. Push the same show to 1,000 viewers at 1080p (4,500 kbps) and you're at 2 TB, which is why estimating bandwidth before an event matters as much as testing your encoder.

Viewers × duration × bitrate
GB / TB usage Viewing minutes Plan match Monthly cost
Budget before you broadcast
See total GB or TB for one event, a weekly schedule, or a 24/7 channel before committing to any provider.
A worst-case estimate, on purpose
The calculation assumes every viewer stays for the whole event at full bitrate, so the real bill won't be higher.
Works for any platform or CDN
The math is universal, use it to compare Livepush against any per-GB CDN or streaming host you're evaluating.

Estimate bandwidth usage for any live streaming setup

One-off webinar, weekly church service, or a 24/7 linear channel, the calculator handles any streaming routine. Pick your schedule, set your audience and bitrate, and it converts everything into total data delivered per month.

  • Schedules from a single event up to 24/7 broadcast (740 streaming hours per month)
  • Automatic GB to TB conversion once your estimate crosses 1,000 GB
  • Total viewing minutes, the same metric ad-supported and pay-per-view platforms bill on
The bandwidth formula
// data each viewer downloads per second
bytes_per_sec = bitrate_kbps ÷ 8 × 1000

// total delivery bandwidth
bandwidth = bytes_per_sec × seconds × viewers

// example: 50 viewers, 60 min, 2000 kbps
250 KB/s × 3600s × 50 = 45 GB

How much bandwidth do you need per stream quality?

Bitrate is the lever that moves your bandwidth bill most. Doubling resolution can triple data usage, so knowing the GB-per-viewer-hour cost of each quality tier helps you pick the right trade-off between picture quality and delivery cost.

  • 720p at 2,000–4,000 kbps is the sweet spot for most talks, services, and webinars
  • Reserve 1080p and above (4,000+ kbps) for sports and fast-motion content that needs it
  • Adaptive bitrate serves lower renditions automatically, cutting your average delivered bitrate
Bandwidth Per Viewer-Hour BY QUALITY
480p · 1,200 kbps
Mobile-first audiences
0.54 GB/hr
720p · 2,500 kbps
Talks, services, webinars
1.13 GB/hr
1080p · 4,500 kbps
Sports, fast motion
2.03 GB/hr
4K · 14,000 kbps
Premium productions
6.30 GB/hr

Turn your estimate into a predictable monthly cost

Per-GB CDN pricing punishes success: the bigger your audience, the scarier the invoice. Livepush includes bandwidth in flat monthly plans delivered over Akamai's global edge network, so the calculator's plan recommendation is the number you'll actually pay.

  • Plans from $49/month for 1 TB, no per-viewer fees and no overage surprises
  • Akamai-powered delivery with 300+ Tbps of edge capacity behind every plan
  • Encoding, hosting, an ad-free player, and simulcasting included, not billed separately
Estimate → Plan Match FLAT RATE
Events · 1 TB
~550 viewers, 2-hr event at 720p
$49/mo
Studio · 3 TB
Live channels, 24/7 playlists, 4K
$119/mo
Network · 8 TB
Broadcasters and networks at scale
$339/mo
Enterprise · 8 TB+
Dedicated infrastructure, custom CNAME
Talk to us

Cut real-world usage with adaptive bitrate streaming

Your estimate assumes every viewer pulls your full bitrate, but with adaptive bitrate, phones on 4G and viewers on slow Wi-Fi automatically drop to lighter renditions. Livepush generates the full ABR ladder from your single source stream, so real usage typically lands 10–30% under the calculator's worst case.

  • Automatic rendition ladder from one input stream, no extra encoder setup
  • Fewer buffering complaints and lower average delivered bitrate at the same time
  • Verify your ladder anytime with our free HLS player and stream tester
ABR Ladder · Delivered Bitrate AUTO
1080p 4,500 kbps DESKTOP
720p 2,500 kbps wifi
480p 1,200 kbps mobile
360p 600 kbps 4g

Who plans their streams with this calculator

Anyone paying for stream delivery needs the same number: how many GB will this audience actually consume?

Event producers & AV companies

Quote clients accurately by estimating delivery costs for conferences, product launches, and hybrid events before signing the contract.

Churches & houses of worship

Budget weekly services and holiday peaks, when attendance can triple, without overpaying for capacity the rest of the year.

Sports clubs & leagues

Size bandwidth for match days at 1080p, where high bitrates and long durations make estimates matter most.

24/7 channels & FAST networks

Model always-on delivery, 740 streaming hours a month, to compare flat-rate hosting against per-GB CDN billing.

Course creators & webinar hosts

Check whether your registration count fits your plan before opening the stream to a bigger audience.

Agencies & streaming consultants

Build defensible bandwidth line items into client proposals using the same formula CDN engineers use.

Simple, transparent pricing.

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Free 20 hrs per month, included

No credit card. No time limit.

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What our customers say

Reviewed on Trustpilot and Capterra by streamers, broadcasters, and teams worldwide.

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Bandwidth Calculator:
Questions Streamers & Broadcasters Ask

Everything about estimating usage, choosing bitrates, and pricing your delivery. More questions? Visit the Help Center.

How do I calculate bandwidth for live streaming?
Live streaming bandwidth is calculated as: bitrate (kbps) ÷ 8 × stream duration in seconds × number of viewers. A 2,000 kbps stream sends 250 KB of video per second to each viewer, which works out to roughly 0.9 GB per viewer per hour. So 50 viewers watching a one-hour stream at 2,000 kbps consume about 45 GB of delivery bandwidth. This calculator does the math for you and converts the result to GB or TB automatically.
How much bandwidth does one hour of live streaming use?
It depends on your video bitrate and audience size. Per viewer, one hour of streaming uses roughly 0.9 GB at 2,000 kbps (typical 720p), about 2 GB at 4,500 kbps (typical 1080p), and 6+ GB at 4K bitrates. Multiply that by your average concurrent viewers to get total delivery bandwidth: 100 viewers watching one hour of 1080p is around 200 GB.
What bitrate should I use for live streaming?
Common ranges are: 480p at 1,000–1,500 kbps, 720p at 2,500–4,000 kbps, 1080p at 4,000–6,000 kbps, and 4K at 13,000–20,000 kbps. Higher bitrate means better picture quality but proportionally more bandwidth usage and cost. If you stream with adaptive bitrate, enter your average or middle rendition bitrate in the calculator for a realistic estimate.
What is the difference between upload speed and streaming bandwidth?
Upload speed is the internet capacity you need to send one copy of your stream from your encoder to the streaming server, roughly 1.5× your bitrate. Delivery bandwidth (what this calculator estimates) is the total data your CDN sends out to every viewer, and it scales with audience size. A 4,000 kbps stream needs about 6 Mbps of upload from you, whether 5 people or 5,000 people are watching, but delivery bandwidth grows a thousandfold between those audiences.
How many viewers can 1 TB of bandwidth support?
1 TB covers roughly 1,100 viewer-hours at 2,000 kbps (720p) or about 490 viewer-hours at 4,500 kbps (1080p). In practice that means a 2-hour event at 720p could serve around 550 average concurrent viewers on 1 TB, or about 245 viewers at 1080p. Livepush plans start at 1 TB for $49/month with no per-viewer fees, see live hosting plans.
Does adaptive bitrate streaming reduce bandwidth usage?
Usually yes. With adaptive bitrate (ABR), viewers on slower connections or smaller screens automatically receive lower-bitrate renditions instead of the full-quality stream, which lowers your average delivered bitrate. If you use ABR, enter a mid-ladder bitrate in this calculator rather than your top rendition to avoid overestimating.
How much does live streaming bandwidth cost?
Pay-as-you-go CDNs typically charge $0.02–$0.12 per GB, which makes costs hard to predict when your audience fluctuates. Livepush includes bandwidth in flat monthly plans delivered over Akamai's edge network: the Events plan at $49/month for 1 TB, Studio at $119/month for 3 TB, and Network at $339/month for 8 TB, with no per-viewer fees. Beyond 8 TB per month, Enterprise plans offer custom pricing with dedicated infrastructure. The calculator recommends the right plan based on your estimate.
Is this bandwidth calculator free, and how accurate is it?
The calculator is completely free and requires no signup. By default it assumes every viewer watches the full event at your average bitrate, which is a deliberately conservative worst case; the “how long viewers typically stay” setting lets you model audiences that join late or leave early. Real-world usage is often 10–30% lower than the worst case because of drop-off and lower ABR renditions. Treat the result as a safe upper bound when choosing a plan.