Bandwidth Calculator

Data Size

Protocol Overhead

Use a local file to prefill size (no upload)

Drag & drop a file here

Or choose a file

We only read file.size locally to prefill data size.

Target Transfer Time

Enter hours/minutes/seconds (at least one > 0).

Known Link Rate (optional)

Efficiency

We’ll estimate time with the given link rate and efficiency.

Display Precision

decimal places

Bandwidth Calculator – Quick Cheat Sheet

Required bandwidth (bps) = (DataSize_bits × (1 + overhead%)) ÷ Time_seconds.
Overhead approximates protocol/transport framing, TCP/IP headers, encryption, etc. Common picks: 5–15%.
bits vs bytes: 1 byte = 8 bits. Network links are typically rated in bits/s (Mbps/Gbps).
SI vs IEC: MB = 10⁶ bytes, MiB = 2²⁰ bytes. Storage tools often use IEC; networks use SI.
Known link rate with efficiency estimates real transfer time: EffectiveRate = LinkRate × (efficiency%).
Tip: Use the file picker/drag-drop to read a local file’s size instantly (no upload).

Edge cases & notes

Time must be > 0 seconds. Data size can be decimal (MB/GB/TB) or binary (MiB/GiB/TiB).
Overhead and efficiency are approximations; real-world throughput varies with latency, parallelism, disk I/O, etc.
Shown results include both bits/s and bytes/s with convenient unit steps.