Free CCTV Storage Calculator

Estimate recorded video storage

Enter your installation details to get an instant storage estimate here. No sign-in required.

Free to calculate, no account required. Use manufacturer bitrates or measured VMS values for better accuracy.

How the CCTV storage estimate works

Multiply camera count by average bitrate in megabits per second, convert bits to bytes by dividing by 8, and multiply by recording seconds over the retention period. Then add a planning allowance for uncertainty or extra capacity.

Example: 16 cameras for 30 days

At an average of 4 Mbps per camera, recording 24 hours every day for 30 days, the estimate is 20.736 TB of video data before overhead; with 10% extra allowance, about 22.81 TB. Actual storage use may differ because of scene complexity, codecs, motion recording, resolution, frame rate, audio, and VMS/NVR behavior.

What about motion recording?

If cameras only record for part of each day, change the recording-hours field as a planning assumption. Motion recording is variable, so check measured bitrates and real footage before final drive selection.

This is a planning estimate, not a guarantee of usable disk space or retention. Account separately for RAID or drive redundancy, filesystem overhead, reserved capacity, and your recording platform's storage policy.