# Amazon Instant Video File Sizes?



## HectorB (Nov 4, 2012)

I plan on buying a Kindle Fire HD soon. I need to know the average size of movies in both downloaded HD and SD from Amazon Instant Videos. I know you can just stream videos but I want to have some movies available on me at all times.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Not sure on downloads, would think they're the same as the streams--and I found these estimates for Netflix streaming (Amazon should be the same and the quality is the same as far as I can tell).

Netflix Movies (HD): These guys are around 3.8Mbit, which means it's about 3600MB for a 2 hour HD movie.
Netflix Movies (SD): Each of these movies are around 500-700MB each, depending on the length of the movie.
Netflix TV Shows (HD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 1500MB.
Netflix TV Shows (SD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 400MB.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

mooshie78 said:


> Not sure on downloads, would think they're the same as the streams--and I found these estimates for Netflix streaming (Amazon should be the same and the quality is the same as far as I can tell).
> 
> Netflix Movies (HD): These guys are around 3.8Mbit, which means it's about 3600MB for a 2 hour HD movie.
> Netflix Movies (SD): Each of these movies are around 500-700MB each, depending on the length of the movie.
> ...


Mooshie, why is the streaming about the same? Does it take up the same footprint eventually as a downloaded movie?

I think I'll ask about this at work tomorrow. My device geek peeps will know! But it is something for me to think about. It does make a difference in how I choose to get a movie and if it's the same then I would want to download in advance....just for the more reliable viewing performance (which I am not impressed with streaming stuff from Netflix at home on my TV).


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

That's what I'm guessing. I'd assume the files are the same. A purchase you're just downloading the file to keep rather than streaming it while watching. 

It would suck it the file was smaller for a purchase as that would mean the purchased version was more compressed and lower quality. So if there is a different hopefully the purchased downloads are better quality and larger files. 

I get pretty solid quality with my 10 Mbps Internet.  But yeah ,if you have slower Internet streaming HD can be problematic. Above  5 or 6 Mbps seems to stream in full HD pretty reliably, as you get slower the more likely you are to get hit with buffering or have streams drop to SD.  Especially if below 3 Mbps.


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