Storage Devices
(memory cards, USB sticks, disk drives, etc)

MEDIA CAPACITIES
(number of photos, songs, videos)

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This Storage Devices MEDIA CAPACITIES page

! Note !
This is rough data that may be updated,
if / when I revisit this page.

INTRODUCTION:

Back in 2006 (when this page of storage-capacity data was created), the memory cards used in digital cameras were in a size range from about 256 Megabytes to about 2 Gigabytes.

About 15 years later (circa 2020), memory cards (and USB sticks) are typically offered in the range of about 8 Gigabytes to 128 Gigabytes --- roughly a 30-fold to 60-fold increase in the typical size of these storage devices.

Similarly, back in 2006, various digital cameras created images in sizes from about 3 Megapixels per photo to about 10 Megapixels per photo.

About 15 years later (circa 2020), digital cameras (and smart phones) typically create images of about 12 Megapixels per photo (or higher) resolution.

Back in 2006, when you bought a memory card for a digital camera, the packaging would typically show a table of how many photos (and songs and videos) of a certain size you could put on the memory card.

The old (circa-2006) table below shows the capacity of different sizes of memory cards --- expressed as

  • number of photo files of various megapixel sizes
    (3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10)

  • number of mp3 music files
    (4 minute songs recorded at 128kbps)

  • number of minutes of mpeg4 (or 3GP2 mobile phone format)
    low-res video files, where low-res is less than 640x480 pixels

This page offers that old, circa-2006 table.

An updated table may be provided at a future date. In case that never happens, there is a WEB SEARCHES section near the bottom of this page.

The sample web searches there can be used to find 'current' media-capacity data for various sizes of storage-devices.


Alternatively, some conversion factors could be presented --- in photos/Gigabyte, songs/Gigabyte, videos/Gigabyte --- for various sizes of photos, songs, and videos.

Those conversion factors could be multiplied by the capacity of a storage device (in Gigabytes) --- to arrive (roughly) at the number of photos or songs or videos that could be put on that particular storage device.

That is another project for a future date. Perhaps the WEB SEARCHES section below can be used to find such conversion factors.

A first attempt at some conversion factors is shown in a section below the table.


NOTE1 (data accuracy disclaimer
in the following old, 2006-era table) :

Actual number of photos, songs, minutes will vary depending on camera/recording-device model, format resolution, file compression, and usable capacity. Actual usable memory capacity may be somewhat less than the nominal memory size of a memory chip/card/device.

1 MB = 1 MegaByte is about 1 million bytes.
1 GB = 1 GigaByte is about 1 billion bytes.
1 byte is 8 bits (zeros or ones).


NOTE2 (data variability
in the following old, 2006-era table) :

The photo-count figures for 3, 5, and 8 megapixel cameras come from two different sources and indicate the variability of information that you may see in tables like these.

The figures in parentheses are from a Circuit City Sunday newpaper ad insert. The other figures are from an information card that came with a Lexar Platinum II SD memory card.

There seems to be too much discrepancy in the 5 megapixel data. This data may be compared with a 3rd source of information, then replaced or augmented.

Memory card size
(to the right)
Photo size (below)
256MB 512MB 1GB 2GB
3 megapixel,
ca. 1.0 (or 1.1) MB/photo
(226 to) 240
photos
(452 to) 490
photos
(905 to) 996
photos
(1808 to) 2000
photos
4 megapixel,
ca. 1.4 MB/photo
(180)
photos
(381)
photos
(762)
photos
(1524)
photos
5 megapixel,
ca. 2.7 (or 1.7) MB/photo
95 (to 149)
photos
195 (to 298)
photos
395 (to 595)
photos
800 (to 1190)
photos
6 megapixel,
ca. 2.2 MB/photo
(119)
photos
(238)
photos
(476)
photos
(952)
photos
8 megapixel,
ca. 3.7 (or 3.2) MB/photo
69 (to 79)
photos
143 (to 159)
photos
290 (to 317)
photos
582 (to 635)
photos
10 megapixel,
ca. 4.8 MB/photo
53
photos
109
photos
221
photos
444
photos
Songs size (below) 256MB 512MB 1GB 2GB
MP3 (128kbps, 4 minute),
ca. 4.4 MB/song
58 songs = 3.8 hrs 120 songs = 8.0 hrs 243 songs = 16.2 hrs 488 songs = 32.5 hrs
Video size (below) 256MB 512MB 1GB 2GB
MPEG4 (or 3GP2 format),
ca. 0.7 MB/min. of low-res video
364 min = 6.0 hrs 748 min = 12.4 hrs 1518 min = 25.3 hrs 3049 min = 50.8 hrs

Conversion Factor Observations:

If you look at the '1GB' column in the table above, you can arrive at (rough) conversion factors to use to estimate the capacity of a storage device, if you know the approximate capacity of the device in Gigabytes.

Number of photos from a
3 megapixel camera --- about 1,000 photos per Gigabyte

Number of photos from a
4 megapixel camera --- about 750 photos per Gigabyte

Number of photos from a
5 megapixel camera --- about 525 photos per Gigabyte

Number of photos from a
6 megapixel camera --- about 450 photos per Gigabyte

Number of photos from an
8 megapixel camera --- about 300 photos per Gigabyte

Number of photos from a
10 megapixel camera --- about 200 photos per Gigabyte


Number of 4-minute
MP3 files --- about 240 'songs' (16 hours) per Gigabyte


Number of minutes of
low-resolution MP4 video --- about 1,500 minutes (25 hours) per Gigabyte

where 'low-resolution' is no more than 640x480 pixels per frame.

High-resolution video (1920x1080 pixels) can be expected to be roughly one-seventh of that figure --- or about 200 minutes (3.3 hours) per Gigabyte.

Some LINKS to find MORE
STORAGE-DEVICE MEDIA-CAPACITY
info on the web:

You can try a WEB SEARCH on keywords such as:

And you can try the

Bottom of this
Storage-Device MEDIA-CAPACITY page.

To return to a previously visited web page location, click on the Back button of your web browser, a sufficient number of times. OR, use the History-list option of your web browser.

OR ...

< Go to Top of Page, above. >

Or you can scroll up to the top of this page.


Page history:

Page was created 2008 Dec 31.
(The table of memory-capacities data on this page was actually assembled in 2006. The table was moved to this separate page 2008 Dec 31.)

Page was changed 2020 Dec 12.
(Added css and javascript to try to handle text-size for smartphones, esp. in portrait orientation. Added an INTRODUCTION section. Added WEB SEARCHES for more strorage-device media-capacity info.)