Work out video bitrate instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Video bitrate scales with pixels per second multiplied by a bits-per-pixel factor that captures codec efficiency. H.264 needs roughly 0.10 bits per pixel for good quality, HEVC about 0.055 and AV1 around 0.045, which is why the same 1080p30 content needs about 6 Mbps in H.264 but under 3 Mbps in AV1.
Bitrate estimate
pixels per second = width x height x fps; bitrate = pixels per second x bits per pixel
Content complexity dominates. Static talking-head video compresses far better than fast-moving sport or film grain, so these factors are mid-range averages.
It gives the smallest files but encoding is far slower and hardware decode support is newer. For live streaming, H.264 or HEVC often remain the practical choice.