How Much Data Does Zoom And Microsoft Teams Consume?

How Much Data Does Zoom And Microsoft Teams Consume?

November 1, 2022 Business Travel Blog Mobile Business Internet Blog Remote Work and Digital Nomading 0

Remote and Hybrid work has made Zoom and Microsoft Teams an every day part of our lives. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find yourself meeting with your doctors, your child’s parent or even talking with family over one of these video conferencing tools. It’s a great way to visually connect with people even when they are not in the same room.

Using Zoom or Teams regularly, particularly when doing business on the go, isn’t always a straight forward as it seems. There is a lot to consider. Not just that you have internet access, but if you travel regularly, how good your connection is and how much data you need.

Data Consumed Using Zoom

With the increase in remote work as a trend has some an increase in the need to conduct work meetings via Zoom. When traveling or digital nomading, the next most common consumer of data on cellular internet plans is often Zoom meetings.

According to a recent study Zoom consumes the following data.

QualityOne to One MeetingGroup Meeting
High Setting.5GB per hour or 2 hours per GB.75 GB per hour or 1 hour 15 minutes per GB
720p Setting1GB per hour or 1 hour per GB1.25 GB per hour or about 45 minutes per GB
1080p Setting1.5 GB per hour or 40 minutes per GB2.4 GB per hour or about 25 minutes per GB.

Of course you can expect similar data consumption from other video conferencing platforms like GoToMeeting and WebEx.

Calculating Data Needed For Zoom

Based on the amount of data per hour used by Zoom you can get a ball park idea of how much data you’ll need. Travel a few days a month and Zoom a few times per day? 5-10GB is probably sufficient. Use Zoom 4-6 hours per day, 20 days per week? You’ll need 100GB or so to be on the safe side. These rough numbers should have you pick the best data plan. Of course, they are only estimates.

Reducing Zoom Data Consumption

Looking for ways to reduce the amount of data consumed when using Zoom? Not only will it reduce the amount of data needed, it may also smooth out your video sharing on slower connections.

Disable HD Video In Zoom To Reduce Data Consumption

As you can see from the chart above, using HD video consumes substantially more data typically than high quality video in Zoom. You can disable (or re-enable) HD video by:

  1. Open the Zoom desktop client
  2. Click your profile picture
  3. Click Settings
  4. Click Video
  5. Click HD

Note: 720p consumes about 66% of the data per hour of 1080p, but is only available to pro users.

Microsoft Teams Data Consumption

Microsoft Teams, like Zoom, can use lot of data particularly when doing video conferencing. The data consumption amount for Teams is very similar to Zoom, typically estimated at 1.5 to 2.5GB per hour.

QualityVideo Meeting
Reduced Quality1.25 GB per hour or about 45 minutes per GB
Full Quality2.5 GB per hour or about 20 minutes per GB.

Calculating Data Needed For Teams

Based on the amount of data per hour used by Teams you can get a ball park idea of how much data you’ll need. Travel a few days a month and use Teams a few times per day? 5-10GB is probably sufficient. Use Teams 4-6 hours per day, 20 days per week? You’ll need 100GB or so to be on the safe side. These rough numbers should have you pick the best data plan. Of course, they are only estimates.

Reducing Teams Data Consumption

Looking for ways to reduce the amount of data consumed when using Zoom or Teams? Not only will it reduce the amount of data needed, it may also smooth out your video sharing on slower connections.

Enabling Reduce Data Usage In Teams For Lower Data Consumption

You can reduce the amount of data consumed by teams, and likewise improve the experience on a slower connection by changing the “Reduce Data Usage” setting.

To change this setting:

  1. Tap your profile picture and then select select Settings  Settings button.
  2. Select Data and storage and then Reduce data usage.

    Teams-mobile-data and  storage setting              Teams-mobile-reduce data usage setting  
  3. Select one of the following options: NeverOn cellular networks, or Always.

It is important to note that when using a cellular hotspot device, like a Go Connect, your phone or other hotspot, selecting “On Cellular Networks” may not reduce consumption. The reason is your laptop or other device thinks its on a WIFi network and may not lower usage. In these scenarios we recommend choosing “always”.