The bitrate descibes the number of bits per time unit. In the video sector, the unit mbits/s (x million bits per second) is usually used. In multimedia, the bitrate is the amount of information stored per unit of time. The bitrate depends on a large number of factors. In general, one must consider to what extent the bitrate can be reduced without reducing the quality too much. In principle, the higher the bitrate, the higher the quality.

Typical data rates are:

1 Mbps YouTube 480p

2.5 Mbps YouTube 720p

4.5 Mbps YouTube 1080p

9.8 Mbps DVD

40 Mbps HD Blu-Ray