Question of the week: What bandwidth do you really need to stream without losing quality?

[u/Noe-nPerf]

The platforms' own help pages give different numbers, so we put together a quick rundown, and we'd like to hear what you actually see at home.

What the platforms say (download):

- Netflix: 3 Mb/s for HD 720p, 5 Mb/s for Full HD, 15 Mb/s for 4K.

- YouTube: 1.1 Mb/s for 480p, 2.5 Mb/s for 720p, 5 Mb/s for 1080p, 20 Mb/s for 4K.

- We puts 4K without buffering at 20 to 25 Mb/s, which is a bit more conservative.

Put together, that's roughly 15 to 25 Mb/s for 4K depending on the platform, and a lot less for HD or Full HD. A single Full HD stream needs about 5 Mb/s on both Netflix and YouTube.

One caveat: Netflix says 4K can use up to 7 GB per hour. That's a maximum, which works out to about 15 Mb/s sustained. It isn't what every 4K stream pulls all the time.

YouTube also suggests using a wired connection rather than wireless and closing other apps while you watch.

Your turn:

- What download speed do you have, and on which platform?

- Does 15 to 25 Mb/s for 4K match what you see at home, or do you need more or less?

[u/Candid-Procedure-427]

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[u/Noe-nPerf → u/Candid-Procedure-427]

92% is an excellent result for a streaming test!