CCTV Storage calculator

Calculate CCTV storage requirements and estimate hard drive capacity for security camera systems. Easily estimate recording days, bitrate usage, camera bandwidth, and DVR/NVR storage needs for IP cameras and CCTV surveillance setup
Loading...
Camera Settings
Camera
Mbps
Hours
Days
TB
Estimation Result
Total Bitrate16.00 Mbps
Estimated Usage per Day168.75 GB
Total Required Storage5062.50 GB
Total Required Storage4.94 TB
Estimated Recording Days with Current Storage6.1 Days
©2026 Itung.online. Built for practical online workflows.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the GooglePrivacy PolicyTerms of Serviceapply.

Overview

The CCTV Storage Calculator estimates surveillance recording storage requirements based on camera count, video bitrate, recording duration, retention period, and available hard drive capacity. It helps CCTV installers, NVR administrators, and surveillance planners determine how much storage is required for IP camera systems and how long recordings can be retained before storage becomes full.

Common Use Cases

How to Use

1
Enter the total number of CCTV or IP cameras.
2
Input the estimated average bitrate per camera in Mbps.
3
Set the daily recording duration in hours.
4
Enter the desired retention period in days.
5
Input the available storage capacity in terabytes.
6
Review the estimated daily storage usage, total required storage, and estimated recording retention duration.

Example Scenario

Small Business Surveillance Storage Planning

A small business records four 1080p IP cameras continuously at 4 Mbps for 30 days using a 1 TB surveillance hard drive. The calculator estimates total storage requirements and how many days of recording the available storage can retain.

Technical Notes

Total recording bandwidth is calculated by multiplying camera count with the average bitrate per camera.

Daily storage usage increases proportionally with higher bitrate, more cameras, or longer recording duration.

Required storage capacity is estimated using daily storage growth multiplied by the desired retention period.

Estimated recording days are calculated by comparing available hard drive capacity against daily storage consumption.

Calculations assume continuous recording and actual storage usage may be lower when motion detection or event recording is enabled.

Video codec selection such as H.264 or H.265 significantly affects actual storage consumption.

Common Mistakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Camera bitrate, recording duration, number of cameras, codec efficiency, frame rate, and motion complexity significantly affect storage consumption.

H.265 compresses video more efficiently than H.264, reducing bandwidth and storage usage while maintaining similar image quality.

Yes. Motion-triggered recording usually reduces storage consumption compared to continuous 24/7 recording.

The calculation is an estimate and actual storage usage depends on codec settings, FPS, motion activity, scene complexity, and camera configuration.

Yes. Additional storage capacity is recommended to handle bitrate fluctuations, future camera expansion, RAID overhead, and unexpected recording growth.

Related Topics

CCTV storage planningNVR hard drive sizingIP camera bitrate estimationH.264 vs H.265Surveillance retention policyVideo recording bandwidthSecurity camera storageRAID storage for CCTVContinuous recording estimationMotion detection recording