How much bandwidth is used in a typical 1 minute video?

[chrisj]

Would I be correct in assuming Flash video is the most common format that plays videos on web sites these days?

How much bandwidth is used playing a typical 1 minute flash video on a web site?

How much does that amount of bandwidth typically cost?

Thanks.

[Baldrick]

A 1 minute youtube clip is about 2-3MByte. Then you basically just calculate the amount it will be viewed to get the total bandwidth like 1000 views = 2000MB = 2GB. (if they view/cache the entire clip).

oneminuteclip.flv

[jagabo]

Note that 8 bits = 1 byte

[DereX888]

AND if it is "HD" it is much more than that.
Average movie trailer is usually 1.5min, and those videos are about 25-30MB each, so I'd say ~20MB per minute

i.e.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnxfyYHJno&fmt=22
(about 28megs mp4 for less than 2 minutes)

[Baldrick]

Yep. But a "typical" web video is not in HD...yet. .

[chrisj]

Thank you for your replies.

So, if a typical 1 minute video is 2MB,
and my web host charges say $200 per month and provides 2000GB of bandwidth,
the cost per GB is .10, so the cost of bandwidth for watching a 1 minute 2MB video would
theorectically = 500 views x 2mb = 1000Mb = 1GB, so 500 views for ten cents? Is that correct?

[jagabo]

That's seems like a convoluted way of saying it, but yes.

[greymalkin]

also there is no such thing as a "typical" video...what type of video is this? If it's a static frame of a guy standing behind a podium then you need much less than a sporting event..etc.

[chrisj]

Thanks for your reply.

Can you further educate me on this statement:

"If it's a static frame of a guy standing behind a podium then you need much less than a sporting event..etc."

In what way? please explain

[manono]

A video with complex movement is harder to compress than is a motionless video, so the example of a sporting event will need a much larger file size than will a talking head (a guy reading the news), for the same quality. However, most video sites, such as YouTube, don't do quality based encodes, but do them for a fixed bitrate, so the ones full of motion just look worse than do the mostly static ones.

[gadgetguy]

Bandwidth refers to the size of the pipe, not the speed of the data flowing through it. The size of the file does not determine the bandwidth requirements of a streaming video, the bitrate of the video and the number of viewers does. For example if a high motion video takes 4 times the bitrate as a low motion video, then you need 4 times the bandwidth for it to be viewed, which translates to either increasing the bandwidth or reducing the number of viewers.