how much storage do you need for video editing on a mac?
by sumit paul · last updated
how much storage you need for video editing on a mac depends on your footage's bitrate, not its resolution: multiply the bitrate in Mbit/s by 0.45 to get gigabytes per hour. compressed camera footage at 100 Mbit/s is about 45 GB an hour, while 4k prores 422 at 30 fps is about 265 GB an hour. then add room for the editing app's render files, proxies or optimized media, and for exports. for most people that means 512 GB to 1 TB inside the mac for apps, libraries and the current project, with footage on an external ssd or in the cloud.
the maths
bitrate is how much data one second of video takes. to turn it into storage:
GB per hour = Mbit/s × 3,600 ÷ 8 ÷ 1,000 = Mbit/s × 0.45
so 50 Mbit/s is 22.5 GB an hour, 150 Mbit/s is 67.5 GB an hour, and 880 Mbit/s is about 400 GB an hour.
to find your footage's bitrate, open a clip in quicktime player and choose window › show movie inspector; the data rate is listed there. or divide a clip's file size by its length. on an iphone, settings › camera › record video shows how much space a minute takes at each setting.
prores, from apple's white paper
these are the target data rates from apple's prores white paper (april 2022). real files land close to them.
| format | 1080p 30 fps | 4k uhd 24 fps | 4k uhd 30 fps | 4k uhd 60 fps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| prores 422 proxy | 20 GB/hr | 65 GB/hr | 82 GB/hr | 163 GB/hr |
| prores 422 lt | 46 GB/hr | 148 GB/hr | 185 GB/hr | 369 GB/hr |
| prores 422 | 66 GB/hr | 212 GB/hr | 265 GB/hr | 530 GB/hr |
| prores 422 hq | 99 GB/hr | 318 GB/hr | 398 GB/hr | 795 GB/hr |
| prores 4444 | 148 GB/hr | 477 GB/hr | 597 GB/hr | 1,193 GB/hr |
4k uhd here is 3840 × 2160. doubling the frame rate doubles the size; doubling the pixel count does too. apple also notes that prores files on iphone can be up to 30 times larger than hevc.
compressed camera footage
most phones, mirrorless cameras and drones record h.264 or hevc, which is far smaller. bitrates vary a lot by camera and setting, so check yours, then use the formula:
| bitrate | per hour | per 10 minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 50 Mbit/s | 22.5 GB | 3.75 GB |
| 100 Mbit/s | 45 GB | 7.5 GB |
| 150 Mbit/s | 67.5 GB | 11.25 GB |
| 200 Mbit/s | 90 GB | 15 GB |
| 400 Mbit/s | 180 GB | 30 GB |
what the editing app adds on top
- render files. made when you add effects, titles or colour that can't play in real time. they're disposable: final cut pro, premiere and resolve all rebuild them. size depends on how much you render.
- optimized media. final cut pro's optimized media is apple prores 422. that's the trap: two hours of 4k 30 fps footage at 100 Mbit/s is about 90 GB, but optimized to prores 422 it becomes about 530 GB.
- proxies. small editing copies. final cut makes them as prores 422 proxy or hevc, at a frame size you choose. a 1080p prores proxy of 4k footage is about 20 GB an hour at 30 fps, far smaller than optimized media.
- caches. waveforms, thumbnails and analysis files. small, but they grow with the library.
- exports. an h.264 or hevc delivery file is small. a prores master isn't: 10 minutes of 4k 30 fps prores 422 hq is about 66 GB.
you also shoot more than you use. keep all the takes and the media folder is several times the length of the finished edit.
a worked example
a 15-minute youtube video, shot on a mirrorless camera at 4k 30 fps, 100 Mbit/s, with two hours of raw footage:
| item | size |
|---|---|
| raw footage (2 hours × 45 GB) | about 90 GB |
| 1080p prores proxies (2 hours × 20 GB) | about 40 GB |
| render files | depends on effects; budget tens of gigabytes |
| hevc export | a few gigabytes |
| if you used optimized media instead of proxies | about 530 GB more |
with proxies, that project fits on a 512 GB mac alongside everything else, just. with optimized media it doesn't fit at all. shoot the same thing in prores 422 and the raw footage alone is about 530 GB.
how much to buy
- 256 GB: only if footage lives elsewhere. see is 256 gb enough.
- 512 GB: fine for compressed footage and one project at a time, with finished work moved off the mac.
- 1 TB or more: comfortable for several active projects, or for shooting prores and editing it locally.
whatever you buy, plan where finished projects go. internal storage on a macbook can't be upgraded, and it costs more per gigabyte than external drives or cloud space.
where the footage can live
an external ssd is the fastest place for the current project and works offline; any usb-c ssd outpaces even 4k prores 422 hq (about 884 Mbit/s, roughly 110 MB/s). the cloud is the place for the archive and for footage you only open now and then. see external ssd vs cloud storage for the trade-offs.
if your footage is in google drive or dropbox, feather drive mounts it in finder and streams only the parts an editing app reads, so clips don't fill your disk. compressed footage can often play straight from it on a fast, steady connection; prores is better edited through proxies. it needs an internet connection, macos 26 or later, only sees files you put in it, and is a paid app with a 3-day free trial. the full workflow is in how to edit videos on a mac with your footage in the cloud.
related
- how to free up space from final cut pro
- final cut pro on an external drive or the cloud
- external ssd vs cloud storage for a macbook air
- how to edit videos on a mac with your footage in the cloud
common questions
is 512 gb enough for video editing on a mac?
for compressed 1080p or 4k footage and short projects, yes. for prores, long projects or several projects at once, keep the footage on an external ssd or in the cloud and use the internal disk for the library, cache and the current edit.
how many gb is an hour of 4k video?
it depends on the format, not the resolution alone. 4k prores 422 at 30 fps is about 265 GB an hour by apple's figures; compressed camera footage at 100 Mbit/s is about 45 GB an hour.
how do i work out gb per hour from a bitrate?
multiply the bitrate in Mbit/s by 0.45. that gives gigabytes per hour, because there are 3,600 seconds in an hour and 8 bits in a byte.
do proxies save space?
they add space, but not much: a 1080p prores 422 proxy is about 20 GB an hour at 30 fps. optimized media is the big one, because it converts everything to full-size prores 422.