Whether you’re a professional photographer, videographer, or media archivist, you might want to know your storage requirements in the long term. Use this calculator to estimate how much storage you’ll need for your photos and videos based on monthly usage, file formats, backup plans, and project growth.
Photographer’s Storage Planner
Calculate how much storage you need for your photo and video projects
Your Storage Requirements
Monthly Photo Storage: –
Annual Photo Storage: –
Total Archive Size: –
Video Storage Needed: –
With Backups: –
Projected 5-Year Growth: –
Estimated Storage Costs
- Cloud (S3/Google Photos): –
- External HDD (5TB): –
- NAS (RAID 5): –
- LTO Tape Archive: –
Instructions:
- Photos per Month – Enter your average number of photos captured monthly.
- File Type – Select the format you usually shoot in (JPEG, RAW, TIFF, or custom).
- Retention Period – How long you intend to keep your media archive (in months).
- Video Hours per Month – Estimate how many hours of footage you produce monthly.
- Video Resolution – Choose the average resolution to estimate storage per hour.
- Backup Copies – Select how many backup copies you want (recommended: 3).
- Growth Rate – Enter an approximate monthly growth in project size or output.
- Hit “Calculate Storage” to see your estimated archive size, storage with backups, and cost estimates for cloud, HDD, NAS, and tape options.
Key Features:
- Estimates monthly and annual storage needs
- Factors in project growth and backup strategy
- Compare storage cost estimates (cloud, HDD, NAS, tape)
- Supports custom photo file size input
Who is this tool for?
Professional and amateur photographers
- Videographers and production studios
- Digital archivists and asset managers
- Event and wedding photographers
- Agencies managing large-scale media libraries