How much data does Zoom use?
A one-to-one Zoom video call uses about 540 MB an hour at Zoom’s standard quality and about 1 GB at 720p, counting what you send and receive. Turn your camera off and listen with the other side’s video off too, and the same hour is about 60 MB. Those are conversions of the bitrates in Zoom’s own bandwidth requirements.
Resolution and the number of tiles decide the bill. HD has to be enabled on your side and the host’s; gallery view with many participants streams a video for every tile, so a team call can cost more than a 1:1 in Full HD. Screen sharing without video is cheap, a shared video clip is not.
Zoom does not download anything in advance, so the saver is the settings: HD off, speaker view instead of gallery, camera off when you are not talking.
Megabytes per hour
| Mode | Per hour |
|---|---|
| Audio only, video offZoom lists 60 to 80 kbps each way; about 30 MB an hour per direction. | 60 MB/h |
| 1:1 video, high quality (540p)600 kbps each way per Zoom. | 540 MB/h |
| 1:1 video, 720p HD1.2 Mbps each way per Zoom; about 1 GB an hour. | 1.1 GB |
| 1:1 video, 1080p Full HD3.8 Mbps up and 3.0 Mbps down per Zoom; about 3 GB an hour. | 3 GB |
| Group call, gallery view 720p1.5 Mbps each way per Zoom. | 1.3 GB |
| Group call, gallery view 1080pAbout 2.5 GB: 2.5 Mbps up and 3.0 Mbps down per Zoom. | 2.4 GB |
Checked October 4, 2026 · Sources: support.zoom.com. Figures are from the app’s own documentation unless marked as our measurement. The tables on this page are published under CC BY 4.0: reuse them with a link to the source.
How to use less
- Switch HD off before the call: Zoom desktop → Settings → Video → untick "HD". In the mobile app video is already limited to standard quality unless the account enables Group HD.
- Use Speaker view instead of Gallery view on group calls (View → Speaker in the top-right); you then receive one video stream instead of one per tile.
- Keep your own camera off when you are only listening: Stop Video in the toolbar. Upload is roughly half of the figures in the table.
- For long calls where video adds nothing, join audio only and ask for the same from the other side, or dial in by phone if the host has a number.
- If you must share your screen on mobile data, share a window rather than the whole desktop and avoid playing video in it; on desktop, Settings → Share Screen → Limit your screen share to 10 frames per second.
- Download the day’s files and recordings on Wi-Fi beforehand; a cloud recording of an hour-long meeting is itself hundreds of megabytes.
How much data Zoom uses on a trip
0.5 h of Zoom a day for 14 days is about 5.5 GB. Add your other apps in the calculator.
Calculate for my tripQuestions
Does Zoom use data in the background?
Only while you are in a meeting. Between meetings the app does nothing beyond notifications, so there is no setting to worry about once you have left the call.
How much data does Zoom need for a two-week trip?
Half an hour a day of 1:1 video at standard quality is about 270 MB a day, under 4 GB over two weeks. At 720p count about 7.5 GB; audio only, under 0.5 GB.
Is a Zoom audio call cheaper than a phone call on data?
An hour of audio-only Zoom is about 60 MB both ways, in the same range as WhatsApp or Telegram voice. The quality is good enough that most people only turn video on for the first minute.
Why does my Zoom call use more than the table says?
Gallery view with many cameras, a host who enabled Group HD, or a shared video all add streams the 1:1 rows do not include. Check View → Speaker and your own HD setting first.
