Be too much or perfectly adequate: Explaining how Netflix data usage works

Be too much or perfectly adequate: Explaining how Netflix data usage works

Millions of people worldwide have shifted to the Netflix block of entertainment to fulfill their content need, but long hours of streaming and binge-watching can be a real data squeezer. Hence, it becomes imperative for the people who are subscribed to a limited data plan and have to restrict their internet usage to make sure to not go past the daily limit.

The amount of data used also depends upon the quality of your streaming, switching between different quality types can have a major effect on the data. So, we have done some number crunching to provide you with a proper analysis of how much data you are spending on Netflix.

Different quality types and their data need

1. SD -1 GB for an hour-long video
2. Full HD -3 GB for an hour-long video
3. 4k Ultra HD – 7 GB for an hour-long video

Some people believe that downloading the videos will result in saving up the data, a misconception that needs to rectify. You see, downloading a video in your offline library can be twice and thrice as more data consuming as the downloaded data keeps getting refreshed in the offline library, and you constantly keep spending data to keep your offline videos downloaded. You also require a lot of space to store the downloaded data, which can also be an expensive ordeal. The numbers provided above are the maximum you can spend at these respective quality types. Meanwhile, a lot also depends on the kind of content you are streaming, frame rate, VFX, motion, color and type of camera used.

How to set a limit to your data usage?

Netflix as the company strives towards providing people with immersive content on their home devices, hence, the platform has done their part in making sure that people can stream their entertaining content anytime, anywhere on any screen with even the least amount of data.

We have several options that are fairly easy to understand and can help you limit your data usage.

• Automatic

This option is used as default selection which provides a fine balance between limited net usage and appropriate picture quality. It spends like 4 GB of data per hour.

• Maximum Data

The selection is for the long night at home when you have a healthy high-speed network, with no data limit to care about. These features provide you with the highest quality possible, first-well quality types 4k, and Ultra HD are part of this selection type.

• Save Data

Exactly as the name suggests, this one is more focused on delivering low-quality video quality that uses a minimal amount of data. It can last as much as 6 hours on a single GB data. Fairly useful for streaming while traveling and on the go viewing experiences.

• Wi-Fi Only

The stream will work only if your device is attached to the Wi-Fi network, downloading content online is mostly advised when you are attached to an active Wi-Fi network.

Configuring your data consumption setting

STEP 1- Sign in to your Netflix account

STEP 2- Click on the profile which you want makes changes to

STEP 3- Click on your Account

STEP 4- Go to My Profile, and click on playback settings

STEP 5- Select your preferred data consumption type