Hard Disc Drive Recording Space Requirements

[Craig Maier]

Hard Drive Recording Space Consumption


How much hard drive space will you need for your next recording? This handy chart should get you in the ballpark.

Digitization Disc Space Consumption as a function of Recording Mode and Sample Rate @ 16 bit resolution
Sample Rate & Recording Mode	Mbytes per Minute
192 kHz Monophonic	22.500
192 kHz Stereophonic	45.000
96 kHz Monophonic	11.250
96 kHz Stereophonic	22.500
48 kHz Monophonic (Pro-Audio)	5.760
48 kHz Stereophonic (Pro-Audio)	11.520
44.1 kHz Monophonic	5.292
44.1 kHz Stereophonic (Compact Disc)	10.584
22.05 kHz Monophonic	2.646
22.05 kHz Stereophonic	5.292
16.000 kHz Monophonic (Forensics)	1.920
16.000 kHz Stereophonic (Forensics)	3.840
11.025 kHz Monophonic	1.323
11.025 kHz Stereophonic	2.646

Note 1 - Values are given for one process only (such as recording).
Note 2 - Values are given for 16-bit resolution only.
Note 3 - Multiply the above storage rates X 1.5 for 24-bit recording.
Note 4 - Windows currently operates with a 2 Gigabyte limit on .wav file
size.