How many photos, songs or hours of video fit on a memory card?
Use approximate working figures per gigabyte: about 1,000 documents, 200 high-resolution photos, 250 songs, or around 40 minutes of 1080p video. That means a 32GB card holds roughly 6,400 photos or 21 hours of 1080p footage, and a 128GB card holds roughly 25,600 photos or 85 hours. Treat these as planning estimates rather than guarantees — file sizes vary widely, and the usable capacity of any card is slightly lower than its nominal size because nominal capacity is quoted in decimal units while the file system works in binary. Video bitrate is the variable that moves the answer most.
Working figures per capacity
These estimates assume 1MB documents, 5MB high-resolution photos, 4MB songs and 1080p video at roughly 1.5GB per hour. Your own file sizes will differ — check a sample before sizing an order.
| Capacity | Documents (1MB) | Photos (5MB) | Songs (4MB) | 1080p video |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8GB | ~8,000 | ~1,600 | ~2,000 | ~5 hours |
| 32GB | ~32,000 | ~6,400 | ~8,000 | ~21 hours |
| 64GB | ~64,000 | ~12,800 | ~16,000 | ~42 hours |
| 128GB | ~128,000 | ~25,600 | ~32,000 | ~85 hours |
| 256GB | ~256,000 | ~51,200 | ~64,000 | ~170 hours |
Why the real capacity is lower than the label
A 128GB card shows around 119GB of usable capacity in your operating system, and that is normal rather than a defect.
Two effects combine. First, manufacturers quote capacity in decimal units — a "gigabyte" of 1,000,000,000 bytes — while operating systems report in binary units of 1,073,741,824 bytes. Second, the file system itself occupies space for its own structures.
This is separate from fake capacity, where the card reports far more storage than the hardware contains. Slight shortfall is expected; a card reporting 128GB that only stores 8GB is not.
Video is the variable that matters most
For documents, photos and audio, the estimates above hold reasonably well across devices. Video does not, because bitrate varies enormously with resolution, frame rate and codec.
The same hour of footage can occupy 750MB at a low bitrate or 7GB at a high one — a tenfold difference. For dashcams, body cameras and security recorders, the correct way to size capacity is to start from your actual bitrate and the retention window you need, not from a generic table.
Our guide on flash memory for dashcams works through that calculation.
Sizing a bulk order
For branded or promotional drives, over-specifying capacity is a common and entirely avoidable cost. If you are loading a presentation pack of 200MB, a 4GB drive holds it with room to spare, and the capacity difference is money spent on storage nobody uses.
Send us what you intend to load onto the drive and we will tell you the smallest capacity that comfortably holds it — there is no reason for us to sell you capacity you do not need.
Sources
Figures quoted on this page are from the published reporting listed above. Where a number is an estimate rather than a published figure, it is described as approximate.
Frequently asked questions
How many photos will a 256GB card hold?
Roughly 51,000 at 5MB per photo. At 20MB per photo from a full-frame camera, closer to 12,800. The resolution and file format of your camera matter more than the card.
How big a card do I need for 1,000 photos?
About 5GB at 5MB per photo, so an 8GB card covers it comfortably. If you shoot RAW at 25MB per file, 1,000 photos need around 25GB, so a 32GB card is the practical minimum.
How much video can a 64GB card hold?
Around 42 hours of 1080p at 1.5GB per hour. At a high 4K bitrate of 7GB per hour, the same card holds roughly 9 hours. Always size from your own bitrate for video work.
Should a new card be formatted before use?
Format it in the device you will use it in, using that device’s own formatting function. This avoids compatibility issues and makes sure the file system matches what the host expects.
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