How much data does zoom video call use

When the coronavirus struck, almost everyone started working from home while trying to flatten the curve. Companies and departments needed to hold their usual meetings to keep abreast and increase efficiency. Video calling services’ demand skyrocketed with Zoom being one of the most used.

Zoom video-calling has been around for years and is mostly used by people working remotely for meetings as well as carrying out presentations. Its demand went higher globally as more people started working from home and students learning from home. Despite other popular video-sharing services being on offer, Zoom was the most sought after because of its user-friendly user interface and its availability via the web without having to download the app.

Zoom uses approximately 540MB to 1.6GB per hour for a 1-on-1 call and group meetings, it uses between 810MB to 2.4GB. These numbers depend on the call length, video quality, and the number of features used in a meeting.

Zoom requires speeds of between 600kbps and 1.8Mbps for a one-on-one video call for upload/download. For example, a 720p call that lasts an hour will consume 540MB of data to upload the video and another 540MB to download it. By default, Zoom uses a minimum bandwidth amount which can be manually adjusted to HD on a PC or MacBook with 1080p being only available for customers subscribed to Enterprise plans.

For a 1-on-1 call:

Video Quality	Download/Upload (Approx. data consumption per hour)	Total data used per hour
High	270MB	540MB
720p	540MB	1.08GB
1080p	810MB	1.6GB

This means that you will use about 9MB-27MB per minute based on your streaming quality.

For Group calls:

Video Quality	Download (Approx. data consumption per hour)	Upload (Approx. data consumption per hour)	Total data used per hour
High	450MB	360MB	810MB
720p	675MB	675MB	1.3GB
1080p	1.2GB	1.2GB	2.4GB

For group calls, you will spend between 13.5MB and 40MB per minute depending on the video quality and the number of people on the call with more people increasing the usage.

Other Zoom features

Zoom offers other features besides video calls. They include screen sharing, voice calls, and webinars. Screen sharing allows one to do a presentation. It doesn’t use as much data as the other two. Screen sharing should consume about a quarter of what a 1080p video would consume which is about 400MB – 600MB per hour.

You can make use of a zoom voice call if you don’t want videos. This will consume less data with speeds of about 80 – 100kbps. One-on-one zoom webinars consume between 270Mb and 540MB for a high-quality and a 720p stream quality respectively.

Factors that influence Zoom data consumption

Streaming quality

The video quality as seen from the table influences the amount of data used by a Zoom call. Zoom comes in 3 different streaming qualities – high, 720p, and a full-HD 1080p.

Speed

This is another factor that determines your bandwidth usage and is measured in kilobytes per second (Kbps) or megabytes per second (Mbps). The speeds for download and upload range based on the stream quality. Though faster speeds don’t necessarily use more data, their usage leads to higher data usage as you get to do more activities online in a shorter timespan.

Multiple features

Zoom offers a lot of features in one including voice and video calls. You’ll for example use less data if you only made a voice call instead of a video call or by simply watching a webinar instead of hosting a group call by yourself, you get to save on data. Also, using the digital background a popular feature will consume more data to project the virtual image behind you with consistency.

How can I save data?

Turn video off

When joining a Zoom call, leave the video and microphone features off if you don’t need them since they consume data the most. Unless it’s necessary, you can host your meetings without a video and as an attendee; you can turn both of them off and only turn them on when you need to. This will save you at least 30% of the data.

How to turn off Zoom video & microphone

When joining a call, Zoom allows you to do so without a video feed and you can mute your microphone once in the call. You can do this by clicking on ‘Join without Video’. If you’re already in the meeting room and want to turn off your video, you can hover over the meeting and click on the ‘Stop Video’ button which has a camera icon to stop displaying video.

Share your screen only when necessary

Screen sharing is a great feature when you want to get everyone on the same page regarding a presentation. However, it is a contributing factor to data consumption and you can do away with it unless necessary. Once the purpose has been met, you should stop sharing by clicking on the Share button found on the menu in the middle of the screen. Alternatively, you can use other tools such as Google Docs to minimize screen sharing.

Turn off HD video

You can adjust your video quality from HD to either 720p or high-quality which can save you over 60% of data. To turn it off, go to Settings on Zoom and navigate to the Video tab on the left-hand side and uncheck the Enable HD check box.

Use cloud recording

This is ideal for academic institutions. As a teaching faculty, you can record your Zoom sessions and share them with the class instead of hosting a whole class.

FAQs

Can I use Zoom without an internet connection?

You can join a Zoom meeting without an internet connection by calling the phone number listed on the email invitation.

Do I need a camera on my device to use Zoom?

You don’t necessarily need a camera to use Zoom unless you’re video calling which isn’t a must for a Zoom meeting.