Image File Size Estimator
Select your resolution and file format to estimate image file sizes and see how many photos fit on common memory cards. Plan your storage before a shoot so you never run out of space.
Photos Per Memory Card
How many images at fit on each card.
All Formats at This Resolution
Estimated file sizes for across every format.
| Format | File Size | On 64GB | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
Understanding Image File Sizes and Formats
Every press of the shutter captures millions of pixels of data. What happens next depends entirely on the file format you pick.
The size difference between formats is wild. A single 45-megapixel photo? About 12 MB as a JPEG, but over 250 MB as an uncompressed TIFF. Once you understand why, you can make smarter choices about format and storage for every shoot. File format is one of the most important camera settings to get right before you start shooting.
JPEG: The Everyday Workhorse
JPEG uses lossy compression, which means it throws away some data to shrink your file. Sounds scary, but at high quality settings (your camera probably labels these "Fine" or "Superfine"), you honestly can't tell the difference. The files stay small and look great.
Drop the quality lower, though, and you'll start seeing ugly compression artefacts. Banding in skies. Blocky patches in detailed areas. Not what you want.
Stick with the highest JPEG quality your camera offers. The files are still way smaller than RAW, and the quality hit is negligible. JPEG works best when you need to share images fast, you're shooting high volume (sports, events), or you know you won't be doing heavy editing.
RAW: Maximum Editing Flexibility
RAW files are the unprocessed data straight from your sensor. Nothing gets thrown away. That means you can recover blown highlights, push shadows, and shift white balance in post without any degradation.
The trade-off? Size. RAW files run 3 to 5 times larger than high-quality JPEGs, and you'll need software like Lightroom or Capture One to work with them.
Bit depth matters here too. A 14-bit RAW captures 16,384 tonal levels per colour channel versus just 4,096 for 12-bit. That extra headroom is most noticeable when you're making big exposure or colour corrections.
If your camera lets you choose between 12-bit and 14-bit, go with 14-bit. The file size bump is small, and the editing flexibility is absolutely worth it.
TIFF and PNG: Lossless Quality
TIFF is the gold standard for archival and print work. An 8-bit TIFF keeps all the pixel data uncompressed, while a 16-bit TIFF doubles that for the widest possible tonal range. Professional retouchers love it.
The catch? Enormous files. A 45 MP image as a 16-bit TIFF can easily blow past 250 MB. You won't be shooting TIFF in-camera either. It's strictly an export format for your finished, edited work.
PNG uses lossless compression to give you smaller files than TIFF while preserving every single pixel. It's popular for web graphics and screenshots, but you won't see it much in photography workflows. Most PNG implementations don't support 16-bit per channel, so for high-bit-depth work, TIFF is still your best bet.
Planning Your Storage
Run the numbers before a big shoot. Seriously.
If you're shooting RAW + JPEG at 45 MP (common for weddings and events), a 64 GB card fills up faster than you'd expect. Bring more cards than you think you need, and always format them in-camera before each job for the best reliability.
For longer trips, a portable SSD for nightly backups is a lifesaver. It lets you safely reuse cards without that knot in your stomach about losing everything.