How Much Data Does YouTube Use?
YouTube's data use depends almost entirely on video quality. How to set quality separately for mobile data and Wi-Fi, and how to measure what you actually use.
4 min readUpdated
The short answer
It depends almost entirely on video quality. A video in HD can use several times more data than the same video in low quality, and on automatic settings YouTube picks the sharpest quality your connection allows.
YouTube lets you set quality separately for mobile networks and Wi-Fi. Setting mobile networks to Data saver is the single biggest change you can make.
Quality is what you pay for
YouTube doesn't publish data figures per hour, but the pattern is the same across video services. As a reference point, Netflix says an hour of video uses up to 0.3 GB on its lowest setting, up to 1 GB in standard definition and up to 3 GB in HD. YouTube's numbers depend on the video, but moving between low, standard and HD quality changes data use by a similar order.
On a phone screen, the difference between 480p and 1080p is often hard to see. On your data balance it is very easy to see.
Set quality for mobile data and Wi-Fi
- 1In the YouTube app, tap your profile picture (or You), then the settings icon.
- 2Open Video quality preferences.
- 3Under On mobile networks, choose Data saver. Leave On Wi-Fi on Auto or Higher picture quality if your Wi-Fi is unlimited.
The options, in YouTube's own words:
- Auto: changes to give you the best experience for your conditions.
- Higher picture quality: uses more data, so videos may take longer to start.
- Data saver: lower picture quality, but videos may start faster.
- Advanced: choose a specific resolution.
You can still change the quality of a single video from the player's settings menu when you want a sharper picture.
Other ways YouTube uses data
- Autoplay. The next video starts on its own. Turn off autoplay in the player or in settings.
- Shorts. Shorts behave like TikTok: they play back to back and load ahead. See How Much Data Does TikTok Use?.
- Music in the background. Using YouTube for music streams video too. An audio-only music app, or downloads made on Wi-Fi, use much less.
- Downloads. Where offline downloads are available on your account, download on Wi-Fi and watch later for no mobile data at all.
Summary
- YouTube's data use is driven by video quality; HD uses several times more than low quality.
- Set Video quality preferences > On mobile networks to Data saver.
- Autoplay, Shorts and using YouTube for music all add to the total.
- Download on Wi-Fi where you can, and measure your own usage to know for sure.