Free tool
Upload time calculator
Updated
Enter a file size and your upload speed to see how long the upload takes. At 50 Mbps, 100 GB takes about 4 h 27 min with the line running flat out, and about 5 h 33 min at a more realistic 80%.
Upload time calculator
At full speed
4 h 27 min
Plan for 5 h 33 min. That's the same upload at 80% of your speed, which is closer to what a real connection holds for hours.
50 Mbps is 6.25 MB/s, or about 22.5 GB an hour. On Tranzfer that fits Starter, $15 a month.
Mbps or MB/s?
Internet plans are sold in megabits per second (Mbps). Files are measured in megabytes and gigabytes. A byte is 8 bits, so a 100 Mbps connection moves at most 12.5 MB a second, or 45 GB an hour. If a speed test or an app shows MB/s, multiply by 8 before you type it in.
Which speed should I enter?
Your upload speed, from a speed test run on the computer and network you'll send from. Not the download speed and not the number on your bill. Most home connections upload much slower than they download, and that's the number that decides how long you wait.
How accurate is it?
The first number is the floor. Your file can't go up faster than the line allows. Real uploads lose a share to protocol overhead, Wi-Fi, other devices and the service at the other end, which is why we also show the time at 80% of your speed. That's a planning figure, not a measurement. If you're on Wi-Fi in a busy house, expect worse.
The bigger risk on a long upload isn't speed, it's starting over. Tranzfer keeps every part that arrived, so a dropped connection or a crashed browser costs minutes instead of the whole run. There's more on that in how long it takes to upload 100 GB.
Questions people ask
How do I work out upload time by hand?
Time in seconds is the size in megabits divided by your speed in Mbps. 100 GB is 800,000 megabits, so at 50 Mbps it's 16,000 seconds, about 4 h 27 min.
What's the difference between Mbps and MB/s?
Mbps is megabits per second, which is how internet plans are sold. MB/s is megabytes per second, which is how files are measured. There are 8 bits in a byte, so divide Mbps by 8 to get MB/s.
Why does the calculator show two times?
Your connection rarely holds its advertised speed for hours. Protocol overhead, Wi-Fi and other traffic all take a share. We show the time at 80% of your speed as the number to plan around.
Is a GB 1,000 or 1,024 megabytes?
Here a GB is 1,000,000,000 bytes, the way drive makers, macOS and Tranzfer count. Windows shows sizes in GiB but labels them GB, so a 100 GB folder shows as about 93 GB there.
Does the calculator upload anything?
No. It runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.