How Much Data Does Zoom Use?

How we worked it out

Zoom publishes the bandwidth it recommends for each kind of call, in kbps or Mbps. To turn that into data per hour: 1 Mbps is 1 million bits a second. Divide by 8 to get bytes, then multiply by 3,600 seconds. That gives a simple rule:

Mbps × 450 = MB per hour. For kbps, divide by 1,000 first, so 600 kbps is 0.6 Mbps, or 270 MB an hour.

A call sends and receives at the same time, so we add the upload and download figures. These are the rates Zoom asks for, so treat them as estimates. A quiet call can use less.

Data per hour, by call type

1:1 video calls (upload plus download):

• Standard quality (600 kbps each way): 270 + 270 = about 540 MB an hour.
• 720p HD (1.2 Mbps each way): 540 + 540 = about 1.1 GB an hour.
• 1080p HD (3.8 Mbps up, 3.0 Mbps down): 1,710 + 1,350 = about 3 GB an hour.

Group video calls:

• Standard quality (1.0 Mbps up, 600 kbps down): 450 + 270 = about 720 MB an hour.
• 720p HD (2.6 Mbps up, 1.8 Mbps down): 1,170 + 810 = about 2 GB an hour.
• 1080p HD (3.8 Mbps up, 3.0 Mbps down): about 3 GB an hour.
• Gallery view, receiving: 2.0 Mbps for 25 tiles (about 900 MB an hour) and 4.0 Mbps for 49 tiles (about 1.8 GB an hour), on top of what you send.

Audio and screen sharing:

• Audio only (60 to 80 kbps): about 27 to 36 MB an hour each way, so about 54 to 72 MB an hour in total.
• Screen share, no video thumbnail (50 to 75 kbps): about 23 to 34 MB an hour.
• Screen share with video thumbnail (50 to 150 kbps): about 23 to 68 MB an hour.

What a month looks like

Say you have one hour of Zoom a day on workdays, about 22 days a month. At standard quality 1:1, that is about 540 MB a day, or about 11.9 GB a month. The same hours in 720p are about 24 GB. With your camera off and audio only, it drops to about 1.6 GB a month.

If you join from a laptop on your phone's hotspot, all of this counts against your phone plan.

Settings that save data

1. 1Turn off HD: in the Zoom desktop app, open Settings > Video and untick Enable HD under My Video.
2. 2Join with your camera off: in the same Video settings, tick the option to turn off your video when joining a meeting. Turn it on only when you need to.
3. 3Share your screen only when needed, and stop sharing when you are done.
4. 4Dial in by phone using the numbers in the invite under Dial by your location. The call then uses minutes, not data.
5. 5Pause other heavy use on the same connection, such as streaming or large downloads.