Video Storage & DIT Planner
Plan drive capacity and memory card counts for production shoots. Calculate data rates and storage footprints for Apple ProRes, Blackmagic RAW, Sony XAVC, and mirrorless codecs.
Top-tier 4K commercial, cinema, and Apple ProRes RAW sibling.
Recommended Media Cards / SSDs
Popular Codec Data Rates (24 fps)
| Codec / Format | Resolution | Data Rate | GB / Hour |
|---|---|---|---|
ProRes 422 Proxy (1080p 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 1080p | 36M | 15 GB |
ProRes 422 LT (1080p 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 1080p | 82M | 34 GB |
ProRes 422 (1080p 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 1080p | 117M | 49 GB |
ProRes 422 HQ (1080p 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 1080p | 176M | 74 GB |
ProRes 4444 (1080p 24fps) 12-bit 4:4:4 | 1080p | 264M | 111 GB |
ProRes 422 Proxy (4K UHD 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 4K UHD | 145M | 61 GB |
ProRes 422 LT (4K UHD 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 4K UHD | 328M | 137 GB |
ProRes 422 (4K UHD 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 4K UHD | 471M | 197 GB |
ProRes 422 HQ (4K UHD 24fps) 10-bit 4:2:2 | 4K UHD | 707M | 296 GB |
ProRes 4444 (4K UHD 24fps) 12-bit 4:4:4 | 4K UHD | 1060M | 444 GB |
Frequently asked questions
How much storage does 1 hour of 4K ProRes 422 require?
At 24 fps, 4K UHD ProRes 422 has a data rate of approximately 471 Mbps (~58.8 MB/s), which equates to roughly 197.4 GB per hour of continuous recording. ProRes 422 HQ increases this to ~296.5 GB/hour (707 Mbps).
What is the difference between ProRes, BRAW, and H.265 storage requirements?
ProRes is an intra-frame editing codec with minimal CPU compression overhead, resulting in large, high-bitrate files (300-800 GB/hr in 4K). Highly compressed H.265/HEVC uses inter-frame compression to achieve compact sizes (40-90 GB/hr) at the cost of requiring more computer processing power during editing. RAW formats like BRAW offer variable compression (from 3:1 down to 12:1) balancing quality and disk footprint.
How do multi-camera shoots affect DIT storage planning?
Storage scales linearly with the number of active cameras. A 3-camera shoot recording 4 hours of ProRes 422 HQ 4K will produce 12 total camera-hours of footage (~3.5 TB of raw media). DIT best practices recommend having at least 3× the raw storage capacity for on-set 3:2:1 backup redundancy.
What memory card speed rating do I need for high-bitrate video?
Divide your codec's megabits per second (Mbps) by 8 to get megabytes per second (MB/s). For example, Sony XAVC S-I 4K All-Intra is 240 Mbps = 30 MB/s, which requires a V60 or V90 SD card. High-framerate 4K 120p or ProRes RAW exceeding 1,000 Mbps (125 MB/s) requires CFexpress Type A or Type B cards.