Bit-rate requirements of common connection speeds

November 2nd, 2007

When streaming media over the web, it is important to take into consideration the speed at which your viewers are connecting to the internet. Listed below are several common connection speeds and the corresponding bit-rate at which your videos will need to be encoded in order to play back smoothly. Bit-rates are listed in Kilobits (1000 bits = 125 bytes)


Bit-rate Connection Speed File Size Per Minute of Video
21 Kbits/sec. 28.8 modem users 160 KB
37 Kbits/sec. 56K modem users 280 KB
80-100 Kbits/sec. ISDN 600-750KB
150-200 Kbits/sec. High Speed ISDN 1.13 MB
250 Kbits/sec. DSL, cable modem, satellite dish 1.88 MB
300 Kbits/sec. DSL, cable modem, satellite dish 2.25 MB
500 Kbits/sec. Fast cable modem 3.75 MB
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