Audio file size calculator
Forty-four thousand one hundred samples a second, sixteen bits each, two channels: 44,100 × 16 × 2 gives 1,411,200 bits per second. That single figure is why a CD holds about 74 minutes on 650 MB, and why a 320 kbps MP3 — a quarter of the data — was such a striking thing when bandwidth was scarce.
Uncompressed audio size is sample rate × bit depth × channels × seconds ÷ 8. An hour of 44.1 kHz 24-bit stereo is about 908 MB; the same hour at 320 kbps compressed is around 137 MB.
How to estimate audio file size
Higher sample rates cost storage linearly and deliver much less than the numbers suggest for finished audio. Forty-four point one kilohertz already captures everything up to 22 kHz, above the range of human hearing. Where higher rates genuinely help is during processing — pitch shifting, heavy time stretching and some non-linear plugins benefit from the extra headroom, which is why studios often work at 96 kHz and deliver at 48. Bit depth is the more consequential choice for recording, because 24-bit gives far more room for a conservative input level.
Questions
About 605 MB at 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo, or 908 MB at 24-bit.