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Security Camera Retention Calculator
Calculate storage for a target retention period and how long your existing recorder can hold recordings.
Choose your cameras
Choose a resolution and camera count, then enter your storage and days to keep. Add another group if you have different cameras.
Group 1
Planning estimate: 4 Mbps per camera, assuming H.265 video around 15 fps. Not a camera specification; real storage use varies. 2K here means 2560 × 1440.
Recording schedule · 24 hours/day · 100% recorded
Storage & retention target
Capacity needed for 30 days · includes reserve
8 cameras across 1 group
Resolution-based estimate. Presets use illustrative rates, not measured camera data. Codec, frame rate, motion and night noise can change storage needs substantially. Select Custom for a measured estimate.
10.37 TB for the target / 10.8 TB available for recording
- Recorded data per calendar day
- 345.6 GB
- Recording data for target period
- 10.368 TB
- Existing capacity after reserve
- 10.8 TB
- Estimated retention on existing storage
- 31.25 days
- All recording streams active
- 32 Mbps
- Storage shortfall including reserve
- 0 TB
Meets the target under these assumptions. Estimated retention is 31.25 calendar days, not a guaranteed retention period.
Advanced: bitrate budget for existing storage
4.167 Mbps per camera if every group used the same bitrate.
Keeps your camera counts, schedules, activity, reserve, and retention target. This is a storage budget, not a recommended image-quality setting.
When does storage fill up?
Move along the timeline to compare generated footage with available recording capacity.
Vertical axis: decimal TB. Cumulative recordings before overwrite; usable recording capacity excludes your reserve. Retention estimate: 31.25 days.
Daily recording by group
Which groups drive storage demand? These rates include each group’s recording schedule and activity.
Where the storage goes
| Group | Cameras | Streams active | GB / day | TB / target period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main cameras | 8 | 32 Mbps | 345.6 | 10.368 |
Per-group data excludes reserve. The combined capacity above includes it once.
Bitrate, storage, and retention assumptions
Average bitrate is measured while recording, not after averaging in idle time. Activity reduces duration; do not apply that reduction twice. A device name identifies the group but does not retrieve or guess its bitrate. Resolution, frame rate, codec, lighting, and scene motion all affect compression: use measured values, including audio and pre/post-event recording.
Daily GB per group = cameras × Mbps × 3,600 × hours × (activity ÷ 100) ÷ 8,000. Sum the groups, then multiply by retention days ÷ 1,000 for decimal TB. Required capacity divides that total by (1 − reserve ÷ 100). Estimated retention divides available recording capacity by the daily data rate.
Use capacity after RAID and formatting. The RAID calculator estimates capacity before formatting. The stream total assumes all groups are active at once, excludes protocol overhead, and is not a network-sizing guarantee. It does not determine your organization’s required retention policy.
Reference: Axis bitrate-control documentation. Group-based planning also appears in Seagate’s surveillance storage calculator.
Calculated in your browser. Inputs and files aren’t uploaded or saved. Tool sources & licenses