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How to Calculate a File Size Based on the Sampling Rate

Movie and sound files are stored on hard disks that calculate size in bytes and bits. There are 8 bits in 1 byte. The quality of an audio or video file is quantified in a value known as the bitrate or sampling rate, which is the number of bits the file uses per second to produce the audio or video. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality of the AV file. The size of the entire file can be calculated from the bitrate if the total length of the file is known.

Instructions

- 1
  Identify the bitrate of the file. If it is an audio file, it will have an audio bitrate. If it is a video file, it will have an audio bitrate and a video bitrate.
- 2
  Divide the bitrate values by 8. This converts the rates from bits per second to bytes per second.
- 3
  Convert the total length of the file to seconds. If the total time is in minutes, multiply it by 60 to convert it to seconds. If it is in hours, multiply it by 360 to convert it to seconds.
- 4
  Multiply the total seconds from Step 3 by the bytes-per-second rate from Step 2. This is the total file size in bytes. For video files, sum the total audio size and total video size to get the total file size. Optionally, divide the total file size by 1,000 to yield the size in kilobytes (KB) or by 1,000,000 to yield the file size in megabytes (MB).

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