Watching videos on YouTube is one of our favorite pastimes. We can spend hours scrolling through the videos. Possibly, YouTube is one of the best gifts of modern technology. Different types of videos are available in various resolutions in this popular video streaming channel. Ranging from sports, music to funny videos, informative news, you can find a wide variety of topics on YouTube. And all of these are at your fingertips. You just have to connect your device with your data connection or WiFi to get access to the videos. But have you ever thought of how much data is consumed while watching youtube videos? Well, as an internet user, you should know about the amount of data used in a particular task. So, here it is. This article will be focusing on the detailed study of the data consumption for YouTube.
The Resolutions Available for the YouTube videos:
With nearly 1.9 billion monthly active users, YouTube is now considered one of the largest social media platforms. Also, as per the study, people spend a significant amount of time on this video streaming channel. However, YouTube lets you upload and watch videos in different resolutions. People watching youtube videos prefer to go for various resolutions at their convenience. Let’s know about the resolutions along with the individual dimensions for each resolution.
The lowest resolution for youtube videos is 240p; the dimension for this resolution is 426*240 pixels.
Other resolutions and their dimensions are listed below:
- 360p; the dimension is 640*360 pixels;
- 480p; the dimension is 854*480 pixels;
- 720p; the dimension is 1280*720 pixels;
- 1080p; the dimension is 1920*1080 pixels;
- 1440p; the dimension is 2560*1440 pixels;
- 2160p; the dimension is 3840*2160 pixels
So, the highest resolution is 2160p (4k) with a dimension of 3840*2160 pixels. There is an 8K resolution as well. Anyways, most smart phones restrict the maximum resolution to 1080p. The data consume watching youtube videos largely depends upon this resolution. However, the data consumption may vary according to other multiple aspects. The aspects include device types, content, and connection speed.
The Data Consumption by YouTube Videos
The Resolution of the Videos
The higher the resolution is the more data is consumed. Here is a list of the amount of data used in youtube video of various resolutions.
- For 144p: 0.05 to 1.5 MB is used per minute; 30-90 MB is used per hour
- For 240p: 3-4.5 MB is used per minute; 180-250 MB is used per hour
- For 360p: 5-7.5 MB is used per minute; 300-450 MB is used per hour
- For 480p: 8-11 MB is used per minute; 480-660 MB is used per hour
- For 720p: 20-45 MB is used per minute; 1.2-2.7 GB is used per hour
- For 1080p: 50-68 MB is used per minute; 2.5-4.1 GB is used per hour
- For 1440p: 45-135 MB is used per minute; 2.7-8.1 GB is used per hour
- For 2160p: 95-385 MB is used per minute; 9.0-22.5 GB is used per hour
However, the sizes can coincide as well. For example, a low-speed 480p video requires less data than a high-speed 360p video. Here, even if the size is low, the speed requires a high amount of data.
Other Aspects for the Consumption of the Data
Well, consider the amounts as the average ones as they may vary according to the multiple aspects. In general, the standard definition (SD) mode consumes less data than the high definition (HD) mode. The data consumption depends upon the device types as well. The data used in mobile phone differs from the amount used in desktop or TV.
The data consumption also depends upon the contents of the video as well. Usually, the average video duration for YouTube is 11.7 minutes long. However, videos come with different time duration. And watching youtube videos does not limit to any time duration. It may continue for hours. So, the data consume watching youtube videos depends on this as well. And the time duration, most of the time, depends upon the content of the videos. For example, funny cat videos (nearly 30 seconds) consume nearly 2 MB in SD quality and 5 MB in HD quality. For most of the music videos (5 minutes), the consumption is 20MB in SD and 50 MB in HD. And for the video blogs, 35 MB data is used in SD quality. It increases to 80 MB in HD quality. A high amount of data is consumed in gaming videos. For SD quality, it is 125 MB and for HD quality, the amount is 300 MB.
Some More on How You Tube Loads Data
Now let’s talk a bit about the way YouTube loads data. YouTube usually loads a lot of data altogether rather than a continuous data stream. When the video quality is low, you can easily detect how it loads the data. In that case, YouTube uploads a large section of video at once.
A great feature of YouTube is automatic resolution change. When the data speed is not fast enough, YouTube lowers down the resolution to continue with the playback. Suppose, you are watching a video of 480p resolution, and your internet speed becomes slow. Then, YouTube automatically lowers down the resolution to 360p. Although the video quality becomes poor, it still runs. This is a useful feature as in other platforms like Netflix the video buffers for low internet speed. You have to wait till the internet speed resumes and the video loads again. YouTube lets you change the resolution as per the complexity of the content as well. For example, you can watch a simple cartoon video with the lowest resolution. But for a live streaming video, you must select a standard resolution. This is to save data and make things convenient for you.
How to Track data used in YouTube videos
YouTube itself does not track the data usage. But you can take the help of your very own smartphone. To track the data usage, you have to follow certain steps. For iPhones, you have to go to the “mobile data” section, in the device settings of your phone. And for android, you have to go to the mobile network configuration. Mostly, you can track the data usage through your mobile career as well. To track data usage, you have to log into your account through the company’s site or ‘My Account’ application. So, thus, you can track how much data is used in watching youtube videos. Mostly, monthly data usage is tracked. However, you can know the daily data usage as well. In some devices, you can restrict the daily data usage to a certain limit. It will send an alert message when it is about to exceed.
How to save data in YouTube
Simply, by adjusting the resolution! You can save the data by lowering down the resolution of the video. To change the resolution, follow these steps. If you are on your computer, go to the settings icon at the bottom line of your YouTube screen. Click over there and an option of “quality” will show up. Under that, you will get a list of available resolutions for the video. You can select your preferred one from there. And for smartphones, you have to click on the three dots on top of your YouTube screen. There you will find an option of “quality”. Click over there to find the list of resolutions for the video. From the list, you can select the resolution you want. In general, you should turn off the option of HD streaming or high resolution streaming. Thus, you can easily save the data consume watching youtube videos and enjoy videos at once.
Also, you can connect your device with WiFi to avoid excess data consumption. WiFi provides you convenience and speed both. There are some data-saving apps as well. You can take help of them if necessary.
Well, there is another way to watch the videos more than once without using data. Simply, download the video and play it offline. In some cases, it may ask for a YouTube premium subscription. YouTube premium has exceptional features including access to downloading videos. The downloaded videos remain in your YouTube gallery for 30 days.
Conclusion
So, in the long run, watching youtube videos consume a significant amount of data. But it is not fixed. You can easily control how much data you want to use. The article guides you in this matter. Go through it to get an idea about the data used in youtube video. And also, you will find ways of how to save data while watching videos. You will get some interesting additional information regarding data consume watching youtube video. It has described how YouTube loads data and how to track the data usage in it. It also tells about how YouTube changes the resolution itself to stay aligned with the internet speed. So, have a look at it. You will get ample amount of information. This will help you to know more about the details of YouTube data consumption.
FAQ –
Q1:How much data does youtube use 144p resolutions?
A: For 144p 0.05 to 1.5 MB is used per minute; 30-90 MB is used per hour
Q2.How much data does youtube use 240p resolutions?
A.For 240p: 3-4.5 MB is used per minute; 180-250 MB is used per hour
Q3.How much data does youtube use 360p resolutions?
A. For 360p: 5-7.5 MB is used per minute; 300-450 MB is used per hour
Q4.How much data does youtube use 480p resolutions?
A. For 480p: 8-11 MB is used per minute; 480-660 MB is used per hour
Q5. How much data does youtube use 720p resolutions?
A. For 720p: 20-45 MB is used per minute; 1.2-2.7 GB is used per hour
Q6. How much data does youtube use 1080p resolutions?
A. For 1080p: 50-68 MB is used per minute; 2.5-4.1 GB is used per hour
Q7. How much data does youtube use 1440p resolutions?
A. For 1440p: 45-135 MB is used per minute; 2.7-8.1 GB is used per hour
Q8. How much data does youtube use 2160p resolutions?
A. For 2160p: 95-385 MB is used per minute; 9.0-22.5 GB is used per hour