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Audio Bitrate Calculator

Work out the raw bitrate of uncompressed PCM audio from its sample rate, bit depth and channel count. This is the data rate stored in WAV and AIFF files, before any lossy or lossless compression is applied.

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How to use this calculator

Enter Values

Enter your values and press Calculate to see results.

How to use this calculator

  1. Enter the sample rate in kHz (44.1 for CD, 48 for video, 96 or 192 for hi-res).
  2. Enter the bit depth in bits (16 for CD, 24 for studio, 32 for float).
  3. Enter the number of channels (1 for mono, 2 for stereo, 6 for 5.1) and read the bitrate and data rate.

How it works

Bitrate in bits per second equals sample rate (converted from kHz to Hz by multiplying by 1000) times bit depth times the number of channels. Dividing by 1000 gives kbps and dividing by one million gives Mbps. The physical data rate in megabytes per minute is the bitrate divided by 8 (bits to bytes), times 60 seconds, divided by one million.

Worked example

Worked example. CD-quality audio at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo: 44,100 × 16 × 2 = 1,411,200 bits/s = 1,411.2 kbps = 1.4112 Mbps, storing about 10.584 MB every minute.

Common mistakes

  • Entering the sample rate in Hz instead of kHz — use 44.1, not 44100.
  • Assuming this bitrate applies to MP3 or AAC files; those are compressed and use far fewer bits per second.
  • Forgetting to double the channel count for stereo, which halves the calculated data rate.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my MP3 so much smaller than this?

MP3 and AAC are lossy codecs that discard data your ears are unlikely to notice, typically running at 128–320 kbps versus the ~1,411 kbps of uncompressed CD PCM. Lossless FLAC keeps all the data but packs it to roughly half the PCM size.

Does higher bitrate always mean better sound?

For a given format, more bits (higher sample rate or bit depth) capture more detail, but beyond CD quality the gains are usually inaudible. Lossy files at the same bitrate can vary in quality depending on the encoder.

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Tip: Enter any known values to calculate the remaining results.

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