IP camera bandwidth calculator
Enter measured or planned stream bitrates, not resolution or codec. Separate recording traffic from the streams watched remotely.
Formulas, limits and technical sources
Each group = camera count × Mbps per camera. Recording total = sum of groups. Additional allowance = recording total × margin ÷ 100. Planning total = recording total + allowance. Remote viewing = concurrent stream instances × viewing Mbps; no recording margin is applied to that separate output. 1 Mbps = 1,000,000 bits per second, not megabytes per second.
Tool limits: 1–20 groups, 1–10,000 whole cameras per group, 0.001–1,000 Mbps per stream, 0–100% additional margin and 0–10,000 whole remote streams. These arithmetic limits are not supported hardware capacities.
NVR incoming bandwidth limits received recording streams. A switch uplink carries the traffic actually routed over that link; total only its camera groups and account for extra streams and other users. Internet upload is required for remote delivery, not automatically for all local recording. Recorder outgoing, decoding and client limits also need separate checks.
Use representative day/night measurements and validate peak load. Average bitrate plus a chosen margin cannot guarantee peak network capacity. Audio must be included in input rates or budgeted separately; protocol overhead, VBR peaks, playback/export, other network traffic and future cameras are not automatically included. Resolution or H.265 alone does not determine a fixed bitrate. No model compatibility or performance is guaranteed.
Axis bitrate-control technical paper explains variable rates and temporary overshoot. Hikvision’s DS-7608NI-I2/8P datasheet lists incoming and outgoing bandwidth separately; its specifications apply only to that device/version.