H.265 High Quality at Full HD 1080p (1920×1080): bitrate & storage per minute/hour
H.265 High Quality (H.265 / HEVC) is a 10-bit 4:2:0 codec with a typical compression ratio of 60:1. The table shows the video data rate and storage it needs at Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) for common frame rates — video only, audio not included.
| Frame rate | Bitrate | Data rate | Storage / minute | Storage / hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23.976 fps | 25.0 Mbps | 3.12 MB/s | 0.19 GB | 11.2 GB |
| 24 fps | 25.0 Mbps | 3.12 MB/s | 0.19 GB | 11.2 GB |
| 25 fps | 26.0 Mbps | 3.25 MB/s | 0.20 GB | 11.7 GB |
| 29.970 fps | 31.2 Mbps | 3.90 MB/s | 0.23 GB | 14.0 GB |
| 50 fps | 52.1 Mbps | 6.51 MB/s | 0.39 GB | 23.4 GB |
| 59.940 fps | 62.4 Mbps | 7.80 MB/s | 0.47 GB | 28.1 GB |
Content-dependent codecs (constant quality, VBR) vary their data rate with scene complexity — the figures above are typical values, and actual rates range around them.
How much fits on a card or drive
Continuous recording time at Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) and 24 fps, video only. Useful for planning how many cards a shooting day needs.
| Capacity | Recording time | Cards for 1 hour |
|---|---|---|
| 64 GB | 5 h 41 min | 1 |
| 128 GB | 11 h 23 min | 1 |
| 256 GB | 22 h 45 min | 1 |
What hardware it needs
Playing this back in real time means sustaining 3.12 MB/s of reads. One hour of footage is 11.2 GB, and that is what has to travel every time you copy, back up or archive it.
Any card or drive rated below 3 MB/s sustained will drop frames on playback, whatever its peak speed says on the box.
| Interface | Sustained speed | Copying 1 hour |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GbE network (1 Gbps) | 110 MB/s | 2 min |
| USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) | 400 MB/s | 28 s |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | 850 MB/s | 13 s |
| Thunderbolt 3 / 4 (40 Gbps) | 2500 MB/s | 4 s |
Times are for a single copy without checksum verification. Verified offload reads back what it wrote, so it takes roughly twice as long.
When to use it
It compresses groups of frames together, which keeps files small but makes the editor rebuild frames from their neighbours — on a long timeline that shows up as sluggish scrubbing, and proxies or a transcode usually pay for themselves. The 4:2:0 sampling stores a quarter of the colour information. Fine for delivery and viewing, tight for chroma keying or aggressive grading. The extra bit depth gives grading room before gradients start to band. Being content-dependent, the real data rate moves with the shot: a static interview sits at the bottom of the range and handheld foliage at the top. Plan cards for the top, not the average.
Compared with other codecs
Same resolution and frame rate, so the difference is the codec alone:
- H.265 High Quality takes 2.0× the space of H.265 Efficient (12.5 Mbps)
- H.265 High Quality takes 0.5× the space of H.265 HQ — that is, less (50.0 Mbps)
Related guides
- Same codec at 4K UHD (3840×2160): H.265 High Quality · 4K UHD (3840×2160)
- Other codecs in the same family: H.265 Efficient · H.265 HQ
Figures use decimal units (1 GB = 1000 MB), the convention used by drive and camera manufacturers. Computed with the same calculation engine as the Workflow Data Calculator — open it to add audio, streams, backup copies, offload time and storage cost, or to export a PDF report.
Certified Adobe & Blackmagic training and postproduction workflow consulting by Jorge Mochón — jmochon.training