How much data does a 1-hour webinar use
A webinar is a great way to make an interactive presentation online with real-time conversations with people from anywhere around the world without physical contact.
Seminars have been with us for the longest time. People attend these seminars to listen to presentations, share ideas, interact, and have conversations. Technology has brought some major revolutions like enabling these seminars to be held online in the form of a webinar (web seminar). The session is still as interactive as a normal seminar with a large number of participants engaging in online discussions or training events. They get to also share documents, slides, and audio from wherever they’re in the world.
Webinars are provided by video calling apps and since they can be used from anywhere, it raises questions regarding the amount of data a webinar consumes when not connected to Wi-Fi. But how much data does a webinar use?
A one hour webinar uses on an average between 15MB and 3GB depending on the media you share, the video quality selected and the platform used.
Table of Contents
The breakdown
The amount of data used by a webinar depends more on the content shared than the duration the session takes. Factors that influence your data usage on a webinar include the video quality, internet speeds, duration among others. There are 3 types of content shared in a webinar and they include audio, video, and still or slow images.
Audio content such as voice alone will require speeds of between 20-50Kbps. Thiswill consume about 9-22MB per hour which on average is about 15MB. Still or slowly changing images use speeds of around 40-200Kbps and can even go beyond based on the images shared and how frequently they change. This uses approximately 18 – 90MB every hour which makes it an average of 50MB per hour.
Videos use the most amounts of data considering that they’re 3D and play continuously. To play a low-quality video on a webinar, it will require speeds of up to 200Kbps, for a standard definition video you will need 1-3Mbps, and for a high-definition (HD) video it will need speeds of between 3-7Mbps. All this depends on the webinar platform. Overall, a video will consume between 90MB and 3GB per hour which translates to 700MB an hour on average.
Type of content shared |
Audio |
Still/slowly moving images |
Videos |
Amount of data used in 1 hour |
9 – 22MB |
18 – 90MB |
90MB – 3GB |
Speeds |
20 – 50 Kbps |
40 – 200Kbps |
200Kbps – 7Mbps |
Other factors that affect the amount of data used include whether the webinar is live or prerecorded, and the presence or absence of a live chat room. If one was to live stream a video with a live and active chat room, it would consume something between 400MB and 4GB of data depending on the video quality in one hour.
It’s worth noting that most webinar platforms can detect the type of device one is using to participate in the call and can adjust to the required bandwidth to handle a specific need like restricting data usage on a device using a 3G/4G network to save on the phone bill. Also, they apply video codecs that can compress the content significantly to the required bandwidth while maintaining the video quality.
How to save on data
The best way to save on data is by pre-recording your webinar presentation, upload it to the app, and share it with your audience. This also gives you the chance to edit the recording by cutting out any unwanted parts and only share what’s relevant and precise. This not only saves you data, but it also saves your audience from any boredom. You can also consider adjusting your video quality downwards to save on data too.
Final Thoughts
Webinars are a nice tool for a large group of people to use online especially for training or for online discussions such as a school. If you plan on using a webinar with cellular data or limited broadband data, then ensure that you have at least over 4GB. The best medium to use is a Wi-Fi which guarantees stable speeds and unlimited data.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some of the webinar apps available on the market?
Webinars are usually features offered by video calling platforms like Zoom, Cisco WebEx, Gotomeeting, Microsoft Teams, Skype, and many more.
Do I need to use my camera in a Webinar?
Webinars are view-only for attendees who are able to interact with each other or with the host through Q&A, poll questions, and chat in a live chat room. As an attendee, you don’t really need to use your camera for video. Sometimes, you only need to use your microphone which only the host can unmute but most of the time you can only chat.
