How Much Data Does YouTube Use in 2025 | Save Money while Streaming

With the increased costs of subscription services and the limitations of cable networks, more and more people are gravitating towards YouTube as a more cost-efficient way to watch shows authentic to them. But is YouTube actually free and more importantly, how much data does YouTube use? Stay tuned to find out!

YouTube and Mobile Data: What You Need to Know

YouTube is free to watch, as long as you’re cool with watching a few ads here and there. Still, something that can add costs to this streaming service is if you’re watching videos on your mobile data. You’ll need to pay attention to a variety of factors, such as the video’s duration, your quality of choice, and other additional data settings, that can add up and impact your data plan.

Average Data Usage on YouTube by Video Quality

The most important factor to determine your data usage on YouTube is the video quality and resolution. Resolution is the number of pixels shown on your device’s screen, e.g., 144p, 360p, 720p. The higher the resolution, the more data it will need, and vice versa – the lower the resolution, the less data it will need. Below, you can see how much mobile data YouTube needs for every hour of streaming with different qualities.

Video Quality: 144p

Data Used per Hour: 90MB
Required Internet Speed: < 0.5Mbps

Video Quality: 360p

Data Used per Hour: 300MB
Required Internet Speed: 0.7Mbps

Video Quality: 720p

Data Used per Hour: 1.5G
Required Internet Speed: 2.5Mbps

Video Quality: 1080p

Data Used per Hour: 3GB
Required Internet Speed: 5Mbps

Video Quality: 4K

Data Used per Hour: 7GB
Required Internet Speed: 20Mbps

Keep in mind that these numbers are only estimates and that your actual data usage will depend on other factors like frames per second (FPS).

How to Check YouTube Data Consumption

If you have an iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular or Mobile Service > Mobile Data for [ your SIM’s name] to find your mobile data usage in the current period. Similarly, if you have an Android mobile device, go to Settings > Apps > Manage Apps > YouTube > Data Usage.

Additionally, YouTube itself offers built-in stats tools to check and manage your data consumption.

Comparing YouTube’s Data Usage to Other Streaming Apps

There are also other video streaming platforms that get compared a lot to YouTube when it comes to data usage. Netflix, TikTok, and Instagram are a few examples. You can see how much data they need on average.

• Netflix Standard Definition (SD) – 1 GB per hour
• Netflix High Definition (HD) – 3 GB per hour
• Netflix Ultra HD (4K) – 7 GB per hour
• 1-minute video on Instagram or TikTok – 20-30 MB

Another point to know is that no matter if you use TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or Netflix, they all have automated quality adjustments based on your internet connection.

Tips to Reduce Data Usage on YouTube

• Our first tip would be to use YouTube’s built-in Data Saver mode.
• Additionally, watching videos at lower qualities can significantly reduce data usage.
• Another good idea is to subscribe to YouTube Premium, which, despite sounding costly, is more efficient. The premium version allows you to pre-download videos with Wi-Fi and watch them later.

Best Data Plans for YouTube Streaming While Traveling

eSIMs are a great way to save up on data usage and phone bills, especially if you’re looking to optimise data while travelling and avoid crazy roaming charges. Understanding eSIM data usage is really easy, as you’ll only need to download an eSIM with our day plan+, which is optimised for mobile streaming.

Final Tips to Save Data on YouTube

How much data YouTube needs depends on factors like video duration, quality, and resolution. The higher any of these factors are, the higher the data usage. Understanding your streaming and background data consumption can help you save a lot of money while watching YouTube, especially if you want to avoid roaming costs while travelling.

Speaking of travelling, you should head over to our website and ensure you stay connected no matter where you are. Aside from being a modern solution to keep you in touch anywhere, anytime, our eSIMs offer the best data plans for streaming. So don’t hesitate and find your plan today!