How Much Data Does YouTube Use?

Ever found yourself spiraling down a YouTube binge-watch? Suddenly, you've previewed every Marvel epic from the last ten years. But have you ever stopped to think about the mobile data you're burning through?

The amount of data YouTube chews up hinges on the video quality you choose. Here's a snapshot of the data consumption for different resolutions per hour:

• 240p—80MB of data
• 360p—300MB of data
• 480p—500MB of data
• 720p—1.5GB of data
• 1080p—3GB of data

Let's dive deeper into the data footprint of each quality level. Plus, we'll guide you on tracking your data consumption and point you toward the ideal phone plan, ensuring you can binge-watch with peace of mind.

YouTube data usage

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There are several factors that determine how much data is being used when you access the internet on your phone, but when it comes to streaming with the YouTube mobile app, your main concern is going to be video quality. YouTube offers up 6 different video quality settings for most videos which include:

• 1080p
• 720p
• 480p (standard definition–default setting)
• 360p
• 240p
• 144p

While the other factors of data usage make it difficult to determine just how much data is being used, the key thing to remember when it comes to YouTube data use is the higher the video quality, the more data you'll be using. That said, watching lower-quality videos to save data presents a trade-off, as these videos will look more pixelated.

How much data does a YouTube video use?

Take a look at the following table to understand how much data you might be using when watching videos on YouTube. Remember, these are estimates only—data usage will vary. We are trying to caution towards mid-range to high-end estimates but for a better idea about the data you are using we highly recommend utilizing a data manager on your phone or other devices.

If you’re watching YouTube videos and your phone isn’t connected to Wi-Fi, you’re using mobile data. If you want to see exactly how much mobile data you’re using on your phone, you can check your data usage in your phone’s settings—we’ll go into more detail about that later. 

YouTube data usage for high video quality

YouTube video also offers higher quality tiers than you’ll typically get on a mobile device. These next tiers are more ideal for desktop or TV streaming, especially because they use so much data that they could drain an entire month’s data allowance in one sitting. 

Here are the options for HD video:

• 1440p (HD)
• 2160p (4K UHD)
• 4320p (8K FUHD)

While you're not likely watching videos on your phone using these quality options, if you do happen to stream elsewhere, you can expect to be eating up a bunch of data. Here's an estimate of how much data YouTube uses in one minute and one hour at these quality levels.

Again (we can't stress this enough), these are estimates and data usage will vary.

Tracking your YouTube data use

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Nobody wants to be surprised with the news that they’ve used all their available data. Based on the estimates above, if you have 10GB of data on your phone plan, you could run through that with just over 3 hours of video streaming in a month—so it pays to keep track of your YouTube data usage.

Luckily, you can check the data that you’ve used in your phone’s Settings:

• If you have an iPhone, you’ll find the report under “Cellular.”
• On an Android phone, you’ll find the report under “Connections.” 

You might need to reset the data tracking period一mine was still reporting data that I used in 2019. Once you reset the tracking period, you’ll see a breakdown of how much mobile data you’re using in each app, including your YouTube data usage. 

So, how long does 1GB of data last for you? That all depends on how many data-hungry apps you use. YouTube is one app that can drain your data fast, but marathon sessions of Pokémon GO or a few app downloads can also use up those precious gigabytes. If you want to learn more about the data consumption of your other apps, check out our mobile data usage guide.

Reducing YouTube data usage

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Is your time on YouTube using too much data? The easiest way to reduce your data usage is to only do data-heavy activities like streaming YouTube videos in a place with a reliable Wi-Fi connection. But if you don’t want to give up those cat videos you’ve been watching on the bus, there are some other options.

You can reduce your YouTube data usage by reducing the quality of the video you’re watching. The YouTube app automatically chooses the quality of video it shows based on a number of factors, including the connection speed available and your device's internal capabilities. If you have an especially good connection at high speeds, you might even automatically see HD video, which drains your data pretty quickly. To fix this, you can set your toggle to “Play HD on Wi-Fi Only” in the YouTube app settings. This will automatically stop video from playing in HD if you are using cellular data.

While you are watching a video on the YouTube app, you can also change the video quality by tapping on the three vertical dots, selecting "Quality," and tapping on your desired video quality. As a reminder, lower-quality videos will use less data, but they might look blurry.

Phone plan data allowances

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There are two factors to look for in a phone plan when your main concern is your data usage. The first is the data allowance your plan provides. This is typically given in gigabytes (GBs), though there are some smaller plans that offer packages in megabytes (MBs). It's also most often offered in monthly increments. Some prepaid plans let you top up with more gigs as you use them (which is the biggest benefit of the pay-as-you-go model!).

Not sure how much data your phone plan currently offers? It's easy to find out. Log into your account on your carrier's website or app to get details of your phone plan and look for the number in GBs or MBs. If you're on an unlimited plan, it should explicitly say so.

The second factor is the average data speeds you can expect. Your speeds are dependent on a number of variables, including which network technology your phone is connected to (4G LTE or 5G) and how many people are using their data to access the internet all at once. Times of peak usage can slow your speeds, especially if you're on an MVNO that throttles or deprioritizes your usage in favor of other customers. To get the best YouTube experience, you'll want download speeds of at least 10Mbps if not faster.

Do I need to upgrade my phone plan?

After evaluating your mobile streaming habits, you'll want to assess whether your current phone plan is sufficient for your needs. As mentioned earlier, a 10GB monthly data allowance may be plenty if you typically use your phone to check your Instagram and scroll through your daily news emails—but if you love to stream the day away on YouTube, you could blow through that allotment in just a few hours' time. And if you're on a family plan, that data will deplete even faster.

The best phone plans for streaming YouTube will be unlimited plans in most cases. But that doesn't mean you have to pay an arm and a leg to get the data you need—Visible's unlimited plans start at just $25/month but offer unlimited talk, text, and mobile data on Verizon's best-in-the-nation 4G LTE and 5G networks.

The caveat—your data can be deprioritized at any time on Visible's $25 plan, which means your speeds could slow down... not the greatest experience for streaming YouTube. Though you'll likely only have to worry about this during times of peak usage (like evenings after work), if you want to guarantee high speeds for your YouTube streaming, you'll want a plan with dedicated "premium" data. Visible's $35/month and $45/month plans, on the other hand, offer a unlimited high-speed premium data before any chance of slowdowns, which is plenty to keep you streaming. 

Here are even more options for unlimited plans that will support your love for YouTube.

YouTube data use: FAQs

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Does YouTube use a lot of data?

It certainly can! If you consistently stream at HD or UHD quality (if your phone allows that), you can eat up a whole bunch of data in a very small amount of time—as much as 54GB in an hour.

Does YouTube use more data than Netflix?

Like YouTube's, Netflix's data usage depends highly on the quality at which you're streaming. That said, Netflix streams at around 3GB per hour on HD—2.2GBs less than YouTube's data usage at the same quality.

How can I check my YouTube data use?

Your phone’s Settings allows you to see an app-by-app breakdown of how much data you've used on each app, including checking YouTube's data usage:

• If you have an iPhone, you’ll find the report under “Cellular.”
• On an Android phone, you’ll find the report under “Connections.” 

How can I reduce my YouTube data use?

There are a few ways to lower your YouTube data usage:

• Lower the default streaming quality of your YouTube videos in the app's settings.
• Set your phone to only play HD quality while connected to Wi-Fi, which then reduces the quality when connected to cellular. In the app's settings, toggle on Play HD on Wi-Fi Only.
• Disable cellular streaming for YouTube (this will only allow you to watch while connected to Wi-Fi).