OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Upload Time Calculator
How Long a Video or File Takes to Upload at Your Speed, With Overhead
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How the Upload Time Calculator works
This upload time calculator shows how long a video or any other file will take to send at your connection's upload speed. Enter the size, the speed from a speed test and how efficient your link is, and it gives the time, the real transfer rate and a table of times at common speeds.
Broadband is sold on its download speed, but uploading is what matters when you post a video, back up a camera card or send footage to an editor. Most cable and copper lines upload at a tenth of their download speed, so a 2 GB export that downloads in a minute can take a quarter of an hour to upload.
The upload time calculator formula
The formula is: time in seconds = file size in bytes × 8 ÷ (upload speed in bits per second × efficiency). Multiplying by 8 turns bytes into bits, because speeds are quoted in megabits while files are measured in megabytes. Sizes use decimal units: 1 GB is 1,000 MB.
Worked example, a YouTube upload: a 2 GB video on a 20 Mbit/s upload at 90% efficiency is 16,000 Mbit ÷ 18 Mbit/s = 889 seconds, or 14 minutes 49 seconds.
Worked example, a day's footage: 250 GB of camera files on 100 Mbit/s fibre at 90% is 2,000,000 Mbit ÷ 90 Mbit/s = 22,222 seconds, a little over 6 hours. Start it before you go to bed.
How many gigabytes can you send in an hour? The "Data per hour" line answers that: effective speed × 3,600 ÷ 8. At 18 Mbit/s that is about 8.1 GB an hour.
Time to upload 1 GB and 10 GB at 90% efficiency
| Upload speed | Typical connection | Per 1 GB | Per 10 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Mbit/s | Slow ADSL upload | 2 h 28 min | 24 h 41 min |
| 2 Mbit/s | ADSL2+ upload | 1 h 14 min | 12 h 20 min |
| 5 Mbit/s | Basic cable upload | 29 min 38 s | 4 h 56 min |
| 10 Mbit/s | Typical cable upload | 14 min 49 s | 2 h 28 min |
| 15 Mbit/s | Fibre to the cabinet | 9 min 53 s | 1 h 38 min |
| 20 Mbit/s | Fibre to the cabinet, top tier | 7 min 24 s | 1 h 14 min |
| 25 Mbit/s | Good 4G upload | 5 min 56 s | 59 min 16 s |
| 30 Mbit/s | Mid-tier fibre | 4 min 56 s | 49 min 23 s |
| 40 Mbit/s | Cable, high tier | 3 min 42 s | 37 min 2 s |
| 50 Mbit/s | 5G upload, good signal | 2 min 58 s | 29 min 38 s |
| 75 Mbit/s | Full fibre, entry tier | 1 min 59 s | 19 min 45 s |
| 100 Mbit/s | Full fibre, symmetric | 1 min 29 s | 14 min 49 s |
| 150 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 59 s | 9 min 53 s |
| 200 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 44 s | 7 min 24 s |
| 250 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 36 s | 5 min 56 s |
| 300 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 30 s | 4 min 56 s |
| 400 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 22 s | 3 min 42 s |
| 500 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 18 s | 2 min 58 s |
| 600 Mbit/s | Wi-Fi 5, near the router | 15 s | 2 min 28 s |
| 750 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 12 s | 1 min 59 s |
| 800 Mbit/s | Wi-Fi 6, near the router | 11 s | 1 min 51 s |
| 900 Mbit/s | Full fibre | 10 s | 1 min 39 s |
| 1,000 Mbit/s | Gigabit fibre | 9 s | 1 min 29 s |
| 2,500 Mbit/s | Multi-gig fibre | 4 s | 36 s |
Choosing the efficiency
No connection carries files at its full rated speed. Packet headers, encryption and acknowledgements take roughly 5–10% on a good wired line, which is why 90% is the default. Wi-Fi loses more to interference and distance, and mobile data varies with signal, so use 75% or 50% there. If you measured the speed with a speed test on the same device, 90% is usually close.
Tips and pitfalls
Megabits, not megabytes. A 20 Mbit/s line moves 2.5 MB a second, not 20. Mixing the two makes an estimate eight times too optimistic.
Upload, not download. Run a speed test and use the upload figure, which is often far lower.
The platform adds processing time. YouTube and others process a video after the upload finishes. A long 4K video can take as long again to process before it is ready to publish.
Cable it for big jobs. A wired connection usually beats Wi-Fi by a wide margin on long uploads.
How to read the result
Upload time is the estimate at your efficiency. Time at full line speed is the theoretical best, and data per hour helps plan overnight backups.
FAQ
How long does it take to upload a 1 GB video?
At a typical 10 Mbit/s cable upload, about 15 minutes. On 100 Mbit/s fibre it takes around 90 seconds, and on a slow 2 Mbit/s ADSL line well over an hour. The table above lists the time for 24 common speeds.
Why is my upload slower than the calculator says?
Speed tests measure a short burst to a nearby server. A long upload shares the line with other devices, runs over Wi-Fi and goes to a farther server. Try a lower efficiency setting, or pause other devices and use a cable.
What is a good upload speed for video creators?
20 Mbit/s or more handles a 1080p upload of a few gigabytes in well under an hour. For regular 4K work or cloud backup of camera cards, 100 Mbit/s or more saves hours each week.
How do I convert Mbit/s to MB/s?
Divide by 8. A 100 Mbit/s connection moves at most 12.5 megabytes a second. The "Effective speed" line in the result shows both figures, after the efficiency setting is applied.
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