Apple publishes exactly one per-minute storage figure for iPhone video: one minute of regular 1080p at 30 fps video is approximately 65 MB. The same sentence supplies a second number — approximately 130 MB for one minute of spatial video — and those two are the only per-minute figures in any of the Apple pages cited here.
That is the honest answer, and it is worth stating plainly, because the number most people arrive looking for is the 4K one. Apple's own pages, as cited below, give you 1080p30 and spatial video. Everything else on the web claiming "4K60 is about 400 MB per minute" is not coming from a figure we can point at on support.apple.com.
The per-minute figures, at a glance
| Recording mode | Approx. storage per minute | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Regular video, 1080p at 30 fps | ≈ 65 MB | iPhone User Guide, iOS 18 |
| Spatial video, 1080p at 30 fps, SDR | ≈ 130 MB | iPhone User Guide, iOS 18 |
| 4K, any frame rate | see official docs | not given on the pages cited here |
| 60 fps or 120 fps, any resolution | see official docs | not given on the pages cited here |
| ProRes | see official docs (a relative figure exists — below) | — |
The source is a Note at the end of the spatial-video section of the iPhone User Guide, quoted verbatim:
"Note: Spatial videos are recorded at 1080p at 30 fps in SDR. One minute of spatial video is approximately 130 MB (one minute of regular 1080p 30 fps video is approximately 65 MB)."
Two things in that sentence do a lot of work. First, "approximately" — treat 65 MB as a planning number, not a file size you can multiply out to the megabyte. Second, the only conditions the sentence names are 1080p and 30 fps. It does not extend to 4K, to 60 fps, or to any other capture mode, and stretching it there is exactly how the bad numbers get into circulation.
Why this number is oddly hard to find
The Note above lives in the iOS 18 version of the User Guide article "Take spatial photos and record spatial videos": support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph6e3a6d4fe/18.0/ios/18.0.
Open the current iOS 27 version of the same article and that sentence is not on the page. Same article ID, same section, no per-minute figures. So if you searched Apple's site, landed on the current page, and came away thinking there was no figure to find — that is why. The figure is in the archived version selector, one iOS release back.
When you cite this, cite the iOS 18 URL. It is the only Apple page in this set that carries a megabytes-per-minute number.
What Apple gives you instead of a 4K number
For the modes without a published figure, the official pages describe direction rather than quantity. The User Guide's video-settings page puts it in one line:
"Faster frame rates and higher resolutions result in larger video files."
That is the whole of the official sizing guidance for 4K and high frame rates. The same pages do tell you what you are choosing between:
"Depending on your iPhone model, you can record video in high-quality formats, like HD, 4K, HD (PAL), and 4K (PAL). Also depending on your model, you can change the fps rates to 24, 25, 30, 60, or 120."
And the starting point, from the iOS 18 settings page:
"By default, iPhone records video at 30 frames per second (fps)."
So the practical method is: if you need a per-minute number for 4K60, check the current figure in Apple's official documentation, or record thirty seconds in your exact mode and look at the file. Your own measurement beats a number someone else guessed.
What to do when the footage does not fit
Once the recording exists, the size is what it is — but the size of the copy you keep, send, or upload is yours to choose. Re-encoding a finished clip is the direct lever, and for most iPhone footage the bitrate is far higher than the viewing context needs.
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs entirely in your browser tab: the file is read from disk, re-encoded locally, and handed back. Nothing is uploaded, which matters when the footage is personal. If you want the general version of the technique rather than a preset, the video compressor page covers the same job with the settings exposed.
There is also a device-side behaviour worth knowing about before you start deleting clips. From Apple's iCloud Photos page:
"When you turn on Optimize Storage, your device keeps space-saving versions of your photos and videos, while iCloud Photos stores your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. When you need more device storage, iCloud Photos optimizes your library, starting with photos and videos you access least."
The megabytes on your iPhone and the megabytes of the original are therefore not always the same thing. Apple describes the on-device copy only as a "space-saving version" — for the resolution or bitrate of that version, check Apple's official documentation.
Settings that change how much a minute costs
Formats. Under Settings > Camera > Formats, High Efficiency captures HEIF photos and HEVC video; Most Compatible captures JPEG and H.264. Apple's comparison:
"HEIF and HEVC offer better compression than JPEG and H.264, so they use less storage space on your devices and iCloud Photos, while preserving the same visual quality."
Two limits on that. The Most Compatible option "is available only on iPhone and iPad devices that can capture media in HEIF or HEVC format", and Apple states the storage difference in words, not in megabytes per minute — so you cannot convert 65 MB into an H.264 equivalent from official sources. If HEVC is causing playback trouble downstream rather than storage trouble, that is a separate problem: see why HEVC video will not play in Google Drive.
ProRes. This is the one mode Apple quantifies, and only in relative terms:
"ProRes files are up to 30 times larger than HEVC files."
Note "up to". It is a ceiling, not a multiplier to apply to your clip. Apple also sets a hard precondition:
"To record in ProRes, you need at least 10 percent of your device's storage to be free. If ProRes is turned on and less than five minutes of recording time is available, the Camera app might free storage automatically."
Storage tier changes what ProRes you can even record: on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models with 128 GB, "recording to internal storage is only available at 1080p at 30 fps". On iPhone 18 Pro models the User Guide describes reserving space up front — tap Configure Pro Video Storage, set the amount of storage to reserve, then tap Update Pro Video Storage, which you only do the first time you turn ProRes on.
FAQ
How much storage does 1 minute of iPhone video take? Approximately 65 MB for regular video at 1080p and 30 fps, per the iOS 18 iPhone User Guide. That figure is scoped to 1080p30 — it is not a general per-minute rate for all iPhone recording.
How much storage does 1 minute of 4K iPhone video take? None of the Apple pages cited in this article gives a per-minute figure for 4K, at any frame rate. Check the current figure in Apple's official documentation, or record a short test clip in your exact resolution and frame rate and measure it.
Why is spatial video double the size? Apple's Note states both numbers side by side — approximately 130 MB against approximately 65 MB, both at 1080p30 — and says nothing further about the gap on that page.
Does switching to Most Compatible use more storage? Apple says HEIF and HEVC "use less storage space on your devices and iCloud Photos" than JPEG and H.264 at the same visual quality, which is the direction of the trade. The size of that difference per minute is not given on these pages.
Does 60 fps really double the file size versus 30 fps? Apple's wording is only that "faster frame rates and higher resolutions result in larger video files" — direction, not a ratio. Treat any exact multiplier you read elsewhere as unverified.
How much free space do I need to record ProRes? At least 10 percent of your device's storage, per Apple. If less than five minutes of recording time is available with ProRes on, Apple says the Camera app might free storage automatically.
Running low on space is usually a compression problem rather than a capacity problem — one pass at a sane bitrate typically reclaims more than deleting a week of clips. Browse the full Clapr toolbox, or the rest of the platform limits explained series.
Figures cited from Apple's iPhone User Guide (iOS 18), About Apple ProRes on iPhone, Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices and Set up and use iCloud Photos, checked 16 September 2026.
