Bit Rate Calculator

Work out bit rate instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Bit Rate Calculator

Uncompressed bit rate is sample rate times bit depth times channels. CD audio is 44,100 x 16 x 2 = 1,411 kbit/s, and file size is simply that rate times duration divided by eight to get bytes.

Formula

Bit rate

bit rate = sample rate x bit depth x channels; bytes = bit rate x seconds / 8

Worked example

With the default values below, Bit Rate Calculator returns Bit rate of 2,304.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Sample rate: 48 kHz
Bit depth: 24 bits
Channels: 2 channels
Duration: 180 s

Results

Bit rate: 2,304.00 kbit/s
File size: 51.84 MB
Data rate: 288.00 kB/s
Hours per gigabyte: 0.96 h

Step by step

1Values used
2Bit rate
3Bit rate= 2,304.00 kbit/s
4File size= 51.84 MB
5Data rate= 288.00 kB/s
6Hours per gigabyte= 0.96 h

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this relate to compressed formats?

Lossy codecs quote their own constant or average bit rate, typically 128-320 kbit/s, which is a fraction of the uncompressed figure.

Does 24-bit really need 50% more space than 16-bit?

Yes for uncompressed PCM. In practice many systems store 24-bit samples in 32-bit words, making it twice the size of 16-bit.