Megabits per Second

Megabits per second (Mbps) measures the bitrate of a video stream, how many millions of bits represent each second of footage. Higher Mbps generally means more detail and less compression artifacting, but larger files and heavier bandwidth demands. It is distinct from megabytes per second; eight megabits equal one megabyte, so a 40 Mbps stream is roughly 5 MB of data per second. Editors set Mbps targets when exporting, balancing quality against file size and the destination's limits, for example a modest rate for email-friendly review versus a higher rate for a 4K master. Knowing Mbps also helps match a delivery spec, anticipate streaming bandwidth, and judge whether source footage is lightly or heavily compressed. It is the everyday currency of talking about video data rate.