The amount of data Zoom uses depends on how many people are in the call and the video quality you're using. Keep in mind that 1080p video settings are only available to users with an Enterprise licence.
For a 1:1 Zoom meeting, you'll spend somewhere between 500MB and 2GB per hour (around 10MB to 30MB per minute), depending on the quality of your video being streamed.
| Video quality | Download | Upload | Total data usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | 270MB/hr | 270MB/hr | 540MB/hr |
| 720p | 540MB/hr | 540MB/hr | 1.08GB/hr |
| 1080p | 810MB/hr | 810MB/hr | 1.62GB/hr |
For a group Zoom meeting, you'll spend somewhere between 800MB and 2.5GB per hour (around 13MB to 40MB per minute), depending on the quality of your video being streamed. Even on lower video settings, your data use will increase the more people are taking part in the meeting.
| Video quality | Download | Upload | Total data usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | 450MB/hr | 360MB/hr | 810MB/hr |
| 720p | 675MB/hr | 675MB/hr | 1.35GB/hr |
| 1080p | 1.2GB/hr | 1.2GB/hr | 2.4GB/hr |
As a point of reference, you'd use about 1GB an hour if you streamed Netflix on standard quality or 3GB an hour if you're streaming in HD. If you're in a 1:1 meeting, you'd definitely use less data over an hour on Zoom, but your data usage can easily spike when you're in a group Zoom.
Downloads are when you pull data from the Internet, while uploads are when you send data to the internet. Most things you do on the internet are download-centric. However, video calls both send and receive a lot of data, in the form of video and audio information.
That's why video calling has so much higher data upload usage than other stuff you'll do on the net.
Video calling, whether on Zoom, Google Meets or Facebook, required pretty fast internet. Without a decent speed, you'll be dealing with laggy or pixelated video, while the person you talk to sounds more and more like a robot.
At the very least, you'll want a 25Mbps connection. That's one of the basic NBN tiers in Australia, so it's available to pretty much everyone in the country. However, if you can spend and extra $10 or $20 a month, a 100Mbps connection is going to make you video calls way more reliable and high quality.
"I use the internet pretty much all the time, either streaming music, playing PlayStation online or streaming video. I also make video calls pretty regularly for work, and to talk to my family in merry old England. I have a pretty cheap 25Mbps internet connection, and honestly it's more than fast enough for me. I'm sometimes surprised by that - I keep expecting to start having speed issues, but I haven't yet."
How common is video buffering?
23% of people rarely get buffering, according to our consumer sentiment tracker (November 2023). NSW users experience the highest number of daily issues (17%) compared to South Australia and Tasmania (14%).
The Internet connection you'll need for a smooth Zoom experience will depend on how often you use it and how many people are online at the same time. If you have two or more people in the house working from home simultaneously, you'll likely want an NBN50 plan for a good connection.
If you're on mobile data, your Zoom connection and quality will be reduced to match your connection type. Overall, it should use less data than on a desktop, although mobile data caps tend to be much lower than home Internet plans. Watch out for excessive data consumption, especially in group calls.
Luckily, most NBN plans come with unlimited data so if you're not already on an unlimited plan, check out the range below.
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How we picked theseWe designed the Finder Score to simplify your search for the best NBN and Home Wireless plans. By analysing hundreds of options from over 40 providers, we evaluate pricing, speeds, data allowances and plan features. Each factor is weighted and combined to generate a score out of 10 — helping you quickly spot the most competitive plans on the market. Read the full breakdown.
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