Unless you have an expensive unlimited data program, you probably accept to keep an middle on how much mobile information you utilise every month. And streaming video on sites like YouTube is ane of the biggest culprits for sucking up your data quota.

Permit's accept a look at how much information YouTube uses, how to mensurate its information consumption, and consider tips to reduce your YouTube data usage. You'll never take to guess how much data YouTube is using once more.

Does YouTube Use Information?

Merely so nosotros're clear before we proceed: Yes, YouTube uses mobile data. Aside from calling and texting, almost everything yous do on your smartphone uses data when you lot're not continued to Wi-Fi.

That includes using messaging apps such as WhatsApp, streaming music on Spotify or other services, browsing social media sites and the web, and watching videos. As a result, reducing mobile data usage is a concern for many.

If yous're on Wi-Fi, you can scout YouTube videos without using data. But anywhere else, watching YouTube consumes information.

Why Does YouTube Utilize So Much Data?

The unproblematic answer is that transmitting video is an information-heavy performance. Video is made up of many thousands of pixels that tin change several times per second, meaning there'due south a lot of information that has to laissez passer through the internet to reach your device.

Compared to downloading a webpage or streaming audio, video is a lot more than complicated, so it uses more data. This isn't express to merely YouTube, though. Other video streaming services use a lot of data, too.

How Much Information Does YouTube Employ? A Calculation

YouTube's information usage depends on the quality of video yous stream. The mobile apps offer multiple levels of quality, from a low of 144p all the manner to 2160p (4K quality) if your device supports it.

Estimates for how much information each of these settings uses vary quite a chip, and so permit'southward run our ain adding to figure this out. Keep in mind that this is not verbal and your results may vary.

YouTube'southward streaming help folio contains information on recommended video bitrates for various streaming quality options. We'll use these as a baseline, though of course not every video is identical.

For 480p video (standard quality), YouTube recommends a bitrate betwixt 500 and ii,000Kbps. Allow's average these two extremes and use one,250Kbps.

ane,250Kbps (kilobits per 2nd) divided by 1,000 gives us 1.25Mbps (megabits per second). Since there are 8 $.25 in one byte, ane.25Mbps divided by eight equals roughly 0.156 megabytes per 2nd of video. Multiplying this past 60 seconds means that 480p video uses around 9.375MB of data per minute on YouTube.

nine.375MB per minute times 60 minutes in an hr results in roughly 562.5MB of information per hour of YouTube streaming at 480p.

YouTube Quality Data Usage Compared

Applying this same adding process to YouTube's other quality options results in the following estimates for YouTube data usage per hour.

Note that for 720p quality and higher up, YouTube as well supports videos at 60FPS (frames per second) instead of the standard 30FPS. A higher FPS results in smoother video, only likewise more information usage, as you lot'd await:

  • 144p: No bitrate provided by YouTube.
  • 240p: 225MB per 60 minutes
  • 360p: 315MB per hr
  • 480p: 562.5MB per hour
  • 720p at 30FPS: 1237.5MB (1.24GB) per hour
  • 720p at 60FPS: 1856.25MB (1.86GB) per hour
  • 1080p at 30FPS: 2.03GB per hour
  • 1080p at 60FPS: 3.04GB per hour
  • 1440p (2K) at 30FPS: four.28GB per hour
  • 1440p (2K) at 60FPS: 6.08GB per hour
  • 2160p (4K) at 30FPS: 10.58GB per hour
  • 2160p (4K) at 60FPS: 15.98GB per hr

For reference, 480p is considered standard definition. 1080p is sometimes called "full HD," and is the highest quality that a lot of YouTube channels upload in. While 4K video isn't as widespread, many channels practice provide 4K media.

360p is tolerable if yous really want to salve information, merely anything lower than that and you'll likely struggle to enjoy the video.

How to Runway Your Data Usage on YouTube

If you desire to keep an middle on how much data you utilize on YouTube, both Android and iPhone provide ways to practise so.

How to Review YouTube Data Consumption on Android

To check YouTube's data usage on Android, head to Settings > Network & Cyberspace > Mobile network. Here y'all'll see how much information y'all've used in the electric current billing wheel. Tap App data usage to see a breakdown by app.

In this list, discover YouTube and select it. You lot'll run into a breakup of its data usage for the current cycle; tap the dates at the elevation to change this.

Foreground shows how much data the app used while you had information technology open and were actively using information technology. Background information shows what the app consumed while information technology was minimized. Disable the Background information slider to block YouTube from using your data when y'all don't accept it open up.

You should keep Unrestricted data usage turned off. If it's enabled, YouTube can however use equally much information as it wants, even when Information Saver way is on.

How to Check YouTube's Data Usage on iPhone

iPhone users tin check how much information YouTube has used by navigating to Settings > Cellular. Discover YouTube in the list below the top options, and yous'll see its data usage.

Your iPhone tracks this for the Current Menses, but unfortunately it doesn't update this timeline automatically. You'll need to ringlet to the bottom and hit Reset Statistics to showtime a new data consumption flow. For all-time results, you should set a reminder to do this every time your billing wheel restarts.

Meanwhile, if you desire to block YouTube from using mobile data completely, simply plow off its slider hither.

How to Reduce Information Usage on YouTube

You lot probably don't want to plow off YouTube's data access completely. Thankfully, there are other ways to reduce information consumption on YouTube that aren't so drastic.

Change YouTube's Video Quality While Watching

The most of import tip to cut down on information usage is to avoid watching YouTube videos in high resolutions while using mobile information. While watching any video, tap the iii-dot Menu button at the superlative-right of the video to open a menu with options at the lesser.

Here, you'll see the electric current Quality. Tap this to alter the video's quality settings. In the latest version of YouTube's mobile app, you lot'll have to get-go choose Car or one of two vague options: Higher moving picture quality and Data saver.

YouTube doesn't explain what these options really mean, however. Presumably, Higher picture quality plays the video in 720p or above, depending on how strong your connection is. Data saver likely caps the video at 480p.

At any rate, you can tap Advanced to choose an bodily quality setting instead of these general options. The options that appear hither depend on what the video uploader has provided.

Auto is convenient, but if you're trying to salve data, it's improve to select an option manually. Try 480p for a skilful residual between data usage and video quality.

As the app states, changing this merely applies to the current video. You'll demand to do this every time you start a new video if yous want to change the quality again.

Set Your Default YouTube Quality Options

In addition to the above, the YouTube app lets y'all set a full general quality preference for all videos. This lets y'all avert Hard disk drive playback while on mobile data, so that Auto fashion doesn't decide to stream at 1080p.

To find this option, tap your profile moving picture in the superlative-correct of the YouTube app and select Settings > Video quality preferences. Here, you're able to choose from Automobile, Higher picture quality, and Data saver as default options.

Over again, these options are vague, so y'all can't select an exact resolution to use as the default. But this at least lets you tell YouTube you don't desire to play Hd video while using data.

Plow Off Video Autoplay

YouTube's Autoplay feature keeps the videos coming whenever you finish one. This tin waste some data if it starts playing a video you didn't want, and then it's best to disable it.

To disable Autoplay, just find the Autoplay slider at the height of any video. Disable that, and YouTube will stop loading new videos on its own. You can also tap your profile picture and go to Settings > Autoplay to disable information technology at that place.

Disable Muted Playback in YouTube Feeds

On certain pages, like Home, Subscriptions, and search results, YouTube will start playing a few seconds of the video yous're looking at. This is a waste matter of data in most cases, then you can disable information technology or prepare information technology to work on Wi-Fi only.

To change this pick, tap your profile moving picture at the meridian-correct and become to Settings again. Visit General and tap Muted playback in feeds. Change this to Off or Wi-Fi merely to avert wasting information.

Attempt YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is YouTube'southward paid subscription service. Amid other benefits, such as removing ads, Premium allows you to download videos offline to your phone for viewing anywhere.

At $12 per month, YouTube Premium is a fiddling expensive for what it offers. But if yous watch a lot of YouTube, that subscription fee tin can pay for itself in the information charges you salve. You tin can download a batch of videos when you're on Wi-Fi at dwelling house, so watch them on the go without using data.

Check out our overview of YouTube Premium if y'all need more information.

Be Smart About Your YouTube Information Usage

At present that you know how much data watching YouTube uses, you lot can make informed decisions about how much to stream each month. By limiting Hd viewing to Wi-Fi and disabling autoplay, you lot can still relish some YouTube videos on the go without sucking up as well much data.

Be careful, though, as YouTube has a way of drawing you in for longer than y'all desire. Plus, YouTube isn't alone in using lots of data.

What Is Background App Refresh on iPhone and Android?

Read Next

About The Author

Ben Stegner (1807 Manufactures Published)

Ben is the Editor in Chief at MakeUseOf. He left his IT job to write total-fourth dimension in 2016 and has never looked dorsum. He's been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more as a professional person writer for over 8 years.

More From Ben Stegner