Quick Answer — How Much Storage Do I Need?
The core formula: Photos (GB) = Photo count × MB per photo ÷ 1,024. Videos (GB) = Video count × Minutes per video × MB per minute ÷ 1,024. Documents (GB) = Document count × KB per document ÷ 1,048,576. Total = the sum of all three.
Quick reference:
- 2,000 phone photos (4 MB each), 50 short 1080p videos (3 min, ~130 MB/min), 500 documents (200 KB each) → 26.95 GB total
- 5,000 RAW photos (25 MB each), 20 short 4K videos (5 min, ~350 MB/min), 1,000 documents (200 KB each) → 156.44 GB total
Worked example: 2,000 photos at 4 MB each is 2,000 × 4 ÷ 1,024 = 7.81 GB. 50 videos averaging 3 minutes at a 1080p-typical 130 MB/min is 50 × 3 × 130 ÷ 1,024 = 19.04 GB. 500 documents at 200 KB each is 500 × 200 ÷ 1,048,576 = 0.10 GB. Total: 26.95 GB — at a typical cloud rate of $0.023/GB/month, that's about 62 cents a month.
Video is almost always the dominant factor once resolution climbs — the second example's 20 four-K videos alone use more storage (34.18 GB) than all 5,000 RAW photos combined would at a lower resolution, which is why resolution choice matters more than file *count* for total storage.