How much data does IRL streaming use?

You want to stream for hours without blowing through your data plan. IRL streaming runs on mobile data, so it helps to know roughly how much an hour costs you, and how Super Simple IRL's bonding helps you stretch it. Here is a plain-English look at the numbers, what drives them, and how to use less.

What drives your data use

Your data use is driven almost entirely by your bitrate. Bitrate is how much video data your stream sends every second, so the higher it is, the more data you burn per minute. Everything else is a distant second.

The other factor is simply time. A longer stream uses more data than a short one at the same bitrate. So the two dials you have are how high you set your bitrate and how long you stay live.

Rough numbers

Here is roughly what an hour of streaming costs at a few common bitrates. Bitrate is measured in Mbps, short for megabits per second, which is how much data you send each second.

• At 2.5 Mbps, about 1.1 GB per hour.
• At 4 Mbps, about 1.8 GB per hour.
• At 6 Mbps, about 2.7 GB per hour.

A handy rule of thumb: your data per hour in GB is roughly your bitrate in Mbps times 0.45. That gets you close enough to plan around.

How to use less data

If you want to stretch your data further, a few small changes go a long way:

• Lower your bitrate. This is the biggest lever, since data use tracks bitrate directly.
• Stream at 720p rather than 1080p. A smaller frame needs less bitrate to look clean.
• Use the H.265 codec. A codec is the method that squashes your video down small enough to send, and H.265 gives you more quality for the same data, so you can hold quality at a lower bitrate.
• Keep sessions shorter. Fewer minutes live simply means fewer gigabytes used.

None of these has to hurt your quality much on its own, and they add up over a long walk.

A note on plans and bonding

IRL streaming uploads continuously the whole time you are live, so an unlimited or generous data plan makes life a lot easier. You are not fighting a cap the moment you head out for a longer session.

A phone uses one SIM’s data at a time, so a single handset draws the whole stream from one plan. If you bond other phones as extra links, those plans share the load instead, which helps your speed and slows how fast any one allowance disappears. See what is bonding for how the links work.

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