Bitrate
What is it?
Bitrate is the amount of data processed or transferred per second, expressed in bits per second (bps). In audio and video, bitrate determines quality and file size. A higher bitrate means better quality but larger files. Bitrate can be constant (CBR) or variable (VBR).
Practical example
Spotify Premium streams music at 320 kbps (kilobits per second). YouTube 1080p video typically uses 8–12 Mbps (megabits per second). 4K Netflix can use up to 25 Mbps.
Test your knowledge
What happens when you lower the bitrate of a video?