Unless you have an expensive unlimited information plan, you probably have to keep an heart on how much mobile data you use every calendar month. And streaming video on sites similar YouTube is one of the biggest culprits for sucking upwards your data quota.

Let'southward take a look at how much data YouTube uses, how to measure its data consumption, and consider tips to reduce your YouTube information usage. Yous'll never accept to guess how much data YouTube is using once more.

Does YouTube Use Data?

Just so we're clear before we proceed: Yes, YouTube uses mobile data. Aside from calling and texting, most everything you do on your smartphone uses data when you're not connected 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 business for many.

If yous're on Wi-Fi, yous can watch YouTube videos without using data. Merely anywhere else, watching YouTube consumes data.

Why Does YouTube Apply So Much Information?

The uncomplicated answer is that transmitting video is an data-heavy operation. Video is made up of many thousands of pixels that tin can modify several times per second, meaning at that place'south a lot of information that has to laissez passer through the net to reach your device.

Compared to downloading a webpage or streaming sound, video is a lot more complicated, so information technology uses more than data. This isn't limited to just YouTube, though. Other video streaming services use a lot of data, besides.

How Much Data Does YouTube Use? A Calculation

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

Estimates for how much data each of these settings uses vary quite a flake, so let'south run our own calculation to figure this out. Keep in heed that this is non exact and your results may vary.

YouTube's streaming aid page contains information on recommended video bitrates for diverse streaming quality options. We'll utilize these as a baseline, though of course not every video is identical.

For 480p video (standard quality), YouTube recommends a bitrate between 500 and 2,000Kbps. Permit's average these two extremes and utilize ane,250Kbps.

ane,250Kbps (kilobits per 2nd) divided by one,000 gives united states 1.25Mbps (megabits per 2nd). Since at that place are eight $.25 in one byte, 1.25Mbps divided by eight equals roughly 0.156 megabytes per second of video. Multiplying this by 60 seconds ways that 480p video uses around nine.375MB of data per minute on YouTube.

9.375MB per minute times sixty minutes in an hour results in roughly 562.5MB of data per hour of YouTube streaming at 480p.

YouTube Quality Data Usage Compared

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

Note that for 720p quality and to a higher place, YouTube besides supports videos at 60FPS (frames per second) instead of the standard 30FPS. A college FPS results in smoother video, only also more data usage, as you'd expect:

  • 144p: No bitrate provided by YouTube.
  • 240p: 225MB per hour
  • 360p: 315MB per hour
  • 480p: 562.5MB per hour
  • 720p at 30FPS: 1237.5MB (1.24GB) per 60 minutes
  • 720p at 60FPS: 1856.25MB (1.86GB) per hr
  • 1080p at 30FPS: 2.03GB per hr
  • 1080p at 60FPS: 3.04GB per hr
  • 1440p (2K) at 30FPS: 4.28GB per 60 minutes
  • 1440p (2K) at 60FPS: 6.08GB per 60 minutes
  • 2160p (4K) at 30FPS: 10.58GB per hour
  • 2160p (4K) at 60FPS: fifteen.98GB per hour

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

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

How to Track Your Data Usage on YouTube

If you desire to proceed an heart on how much information you use on YouTube, both Android and iPhone provide means to practice and then.

How to Review YouTube Data Consumption on Android

To check YouTube's information usage on Android, head to Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile network. Here you'll see how much data you've used in the electric current billing cycle. Tap App data usage to encounter a breakup by app.

In this list, find YouTube and select it. You'll see a breakup of its data usage for the current cycle; tap the dates at the height to alter this.

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

You lot should keep Unrestricted data usage turned off. If it'due south enabled, YouTube can withal use as much data equally it wants, even when Data Saver mode is on.

How to Check YouTube's Data Usage on iPhone

iPhone users can cheque how much data YouTube has used by navigating to Settings > Cellular. Notice YouTube in the list beneath the height options, and you'll see its information usage.

Your iPhone tracks this for the Current Menstruum, only unfortunately information technology doesn't update this timeline automatically. Y'all'll need to scroll to the lesser and hit Reset Statistics to start a new data consumption menstruum. For all-time results, you lot should set a reminder to do this every fourth dimension your billing cycle restarts.

Meanwhile, if y'all want to block YouTube from using mobile data completely, simply plow off its slider hither.

How to Reduce Data Usage on YouTube

You probably don't want to turn off YouTube'southward data admission completely. Thankfully, at that place are other means to reduce data consumption on YouTube that aren't so drastic.

Change YouTube'southward Video Quality While Watching

The most important tip to cutting downwardly on information usage is to avoid watching YouTube videos in loftier resolutions while using mobile data. While watching any video, tap the three-dot Carte du jour button at the meridian-right of the video to open up a card with options at the bottom.

Here, you'll see the current Quality. Tap this to change the video's quality settings. In the latest version of YouTube'due south mobile app, you'll accept to first choose Machine or ane of 2 vague options: Higher moving picture quality and Data saver.

YouTube doesn't explain what these options really mean, still. Presumably, Higher motion picture quality plays the video in 720p or to a higher place, depending on how strong your connectedness is. Data saver likely caps the video at 480p.

At whatsoever charge per unit, you lot can tap Advanced to cull 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 amend to select an selection manually. Effort 480p for a good balance betwixt data usage and video quality.

Equally the app states, irresolute this only applies to the electric current video. You'll need to do this every time you first a new video if you want to alter the quality once again.

Set Your Default YouTube Quality Options

In addition to the higher up, the YouTube app lets you set a general quality preference for all videos. This lets y'all avoid HD playback while on mobile data, and so that Auto mode doesn't decide to stream at 1080p.

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

Over again, these options are vague, so you can't select an verbal resolution to use as the default. But this at least lets you tell YouTube yous don't want to play HD video while using data.

Plough Off Video Autoplay

YouTube's Autoplay feature keeps the videos coming whenever you cease one. This can waste some data if it starts playing a video yous didn't want, and so information technology's best to disable information technology.

To disable Autoplay, but detect the Autoplay slider at the elevation of any video. Disable that, and YouTube volition stop loading new videos on its ain. Yous can also tap your profile picture and go to Settings > Autoplay to disable it there.

Disable Muted Playback in YouTube Feeds

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

To modify this choice, tap your contour picture at the top-correct and go to Settings again. Visit General and tap Muted playback in feeds. Change this to Off or Wi-Fi only to avoid wasting data.

Try YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is YouTube's paid subscription service. Among other benefits, such every bit removing ads, Premium allows yous to download videos offline to your telephone for viewing anywhere.

At $12 per month, YouTube Premium is a niggling expensive for what it offers. But if you scout a lot of YouTube, that subscription fee tin can pay for itself in the data charges y'all salve. You tin can download a batch of videos when you're on Wi-Fi at home, then spotter them on the get without using data.

Check out our overview of YouTube Premium if you lot need more information.

Exist Smart Virtually Your YouTube Data Usage

Now that y'all know how much information watching YouTube uses, you tin make informed decisions about how much to stream each month. By limiting HD viewing to Wi-Fi and disabling autoplay, yous can nonetheless savor some YouTube videos on the get without sucking upwards as well much data.

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

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About The Writer

Ben Stegner (1807 Articles Published)

Ben is the Editor in Primary at MakeUseOf. He left his IT task to write full-time in 2016 and has never looked back. He'southward been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more as a professional writer for over eight years.

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