XAVC-L at 4K UHD (3840×2160): bitrate & storage per minute/hour
XAVC-L (Broadcast & Mezzanine) is a 10-bit 4:2:2 codec with a typical compression ratio of 40:1. The table shows the video data rate and storage it needs at 4K UHD (3840×2160) for common frame rates — video only, audio not included.
| Frame rate | Bitrate | Data rate | Storage / minute | Storage / hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23.976 fps | 99.4 Mbps | 12.43 MB/s | 0.75 GB | 44.7 GB |
| 24 fps | 99.5 Mbps | 12.44 MB/s | 0.75 GB | 44.8 GB |
| 25 fps | 103.7 Mbps | 12.96 MB/s | 0.78 GB | 46.7 GB |
| 29.970 fps | 124.3 Mbps | 15.54 MB/s | 0.93 GB | 55.9 GB |
| 50 fps | 207.4 Mbps | 25.92 MB/s | 1.56 GB | 93.3 GB |
| 59.940 fps | 248.6 Mbps | 31.07 MB/s | 1.86 GB | 111.9 GB |
How much fits on a card or drive
Continuous recording time at 4K UHD (3840×2160) and 24 fps, video only. Useful for planning how many cards a shooting day needs.
| Capacity | Recording time | Cards for 1 hour |
|---|---|---|
| 64 GB | 1 h 26 min | 1 |
| 128 GB | 2 h 51 min | 1 |
| 256 GB | 5 h 43 min | 1 |
| 512 GB | 11 h 26 min | 1 |
| 1 TB | 22 h 20 min | 1 |
What hardware it needs
Playing this back in real time means sustaining 12.44 MB/s of reads. One hour of footage is 44.8 GB, and that is what has to travel every time you copy, back up or archive it.
Any card or drive rated below 12 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 | 7 min |
| USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) | 400 MB/s | 2 min |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | 850 MB/s | 53 s |
| Thunderbolt 3 / 4 (40 Gbps) | 2500 MB/s | 18 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 4:2:2 sampling halves horizontal colour resolution — invisible on normal footage, and enough for grading and moderate keying. The extra bit depth gives grading room before gradients start to band.
Compared with other codecs
Same resolution and frame rate, so the difference is the codec alone:
- XAVC-L takes 0.4× the space of JPEG2000 — that is, less (234.9 Mbps)
- XAVC-L takes 0.2× the space of XAVC-I — that is, less (481.7 Mbps)
- XAVC-L takes 0.2× the space of Cineform — that is, less (563.4 Mbps)
Related guides
- Same codec at Full HD 1080p (1920×1080): XAVC-L · Full HD 1080p (1920×1080)
- Other codecs in the same family: XAVC-I · JPEG2000 · Cineform · Cineform RGB 12-bit
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