Use this free CCTV Storage Calculator to estimate the recording bandwidth, storage capacity and hard disk requirements for IP video surveillance systems. Enter your camera quantity, resolution, frame rate, codec, recording duration and retention period to calculate the storage capacity required for your CCTV system.
The calculator provides an engineering estimate suitable for feasibility studies, preliminary design and budget planning. Final storage sizing should always be confirmed using the selected camera manufacturer’s published performance data.
How the CCTV Storage Calculator works
The calculator estimates storage by combining:
- Camera quantity
- Average video bitrate
- Recording duration
- Retention period
- Additional storage allowance
- RAID storage configuration
The bitrate may be estimated automatically from the selected resolution, frame rate, codec and scene complexity, or entered manually using manufacturer-provided values where available.
Understanding Scene Complexity
Scene complexity has a significant impact on storage requirements because modern video compression records changes between frames rather than storing every frame independently.
Highly dynamic scenes generally require considerably more storage than static environments.
Typical examples include:
- Very Low – Plant rooms and equipment rooms
- Low – Corridors and service roads
- Medium – Offices and receptions
- High – Retail environments and public spaces
- Very High – Stadia, airports and transport hubs
RAID Storage Recommendations
The calculator estimates the HDD storage required for common RAID configurations using fixed 8 TB hard disk drives.
The recommended storage includes the selected additional capacity allowance and provides both the raw installed capacity and the resulting usable storage capacity.