Video bitrate checker
Check the bitrate of a video in your browser — the file never leaves your device.
Drop a video and its bitrate is read from the file’s own index: the size and the time of every frame, stream by stream. That makes the video and the audio bitrate exact rather than estimated from the file size, and shows whether the bitrate holds steady or swings with the picture.
What the numbers mean
Overall bitrate is the file’s size divided by its length — what most players and file managers call “bitrate”. The video and audio bitrates are each stream on its own, added up from the bytes of its frames. Constant means every second carries about the same; variable means the encoder spent more on busy scenes and less on still ones, which is how almost every phone and modern encoder works. For a variable stream the page shows the lightest and the heaviest second.
What a good video bitrate is
For uploads, YouTube recommends 8 Mbps for 1080p at 24 to 30 frames a second and 12 Mbps at 48 to 60, 5 Mbps for 720p and 35 to 45 Mbps for 4K; the page shows the figure for your video’s size and frame rate. More than that does no harm before an upload, because YouTube re-encodes everything it receives.
What it reads, and where the figures stop
MP4, MOV, 3GP, MKV, WebM and AVI are read directly, in milliseconds; anything else can be read with ffmpeg, a one-time 31 MB download. A declared bitrate in the header is only what the encoder aimed for — the measured one is what the frames add up to — and the average of a variable stream is an average.
How to use it
- Add a video file.
- Read the overall, video and audio bitrate, and whether it is constant.
- Compare it with the recommended figure for its size and frame rate.
Why use this tool
Completely private
Everything runs inside your browser. Your files and text are never sent to a server.
Free, with no limits
No sign-up, no watermarks and no cap on how many times you can use it.
Instant results
There is no upload or queue to wait for, so results appear as fast as your device can work.
Works on any device
Runs in any modern browser on phone, tablet or desktop. Nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I check the bitrate of a video?
- Drop it on this page: the overall, video and audio bitrates appear at once, read from the file’s own index without uploading it. On Windows, a video’s Properties › Details shows a data rate too, for the formats Windows can read.
- Is 8000 kbps good for 1080p?
- Yes. 8 Mbps — 8000 kbps — is exactly what YouTube recommends for a 1080p upload at 24, 25 or 30 frames a second; at 50 or 60 it recommends 12 Mbps. Well below that, fine detail starts to suffer, most of all in fast motion.
- Why is my bitrate different from what the encoder said?
- Because most encoders aim at a bitrate rather than hitting it: with variable bitrate the stream comes out above or below the target depending on the picture. The header’s figure is the target, and this page adds up the frames as well. The overall bitrate is higher than the video’s alone because it includes the sound and the container.
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