How Many Photos Per GB? Memory Card Hold Capacity (All Sizes)

Card capacity can be kind of confusing. But it doesn’t have to be. In this post, you’ll learn how many photos per GB of memory. And how many each memory card size can hold. We’ll also answer the following questions: How many pictures can 32GB hold? And how many photos a 64GB memory card can hold? 

Guide to Memory Card Capacity

It’s important to know the capacity of your memory cards. There isn’t much worse than running out of space before you run out of subject matter.

To help you figure it all out, we created two main sections for this post.

1. First, we cover how many images per gigabyte of data, according to image resolution.
2. Second, we break down how many photos will fit on each size of memory card. They range from 16GB all the way up to 1TB.

To help you understand image size, here are four factors that can increase/decrease the available storage space on your memory card.

4 Factors Affecting Photo Size

There are a number of factors that will affect the size of each image. And the space you’ll have available on your storage device.

1. Image resolution: This is the most significant factor when comparing memory card capacity.
2. Image compression: Shooting in jpg (compressed) will increase your card capacity significantly when compared to uncompressed image formats (like RAW).
3. Video files: It would be uncommon to shoot only photos and no videos. Don’t forget to take into account your video size. These can add up quickly and reduce available space for photos.
4. Other files on the card: Some devices create additional files, other than the video and image files. GoPro cameras, for example, create LRV and THM files that will take up space on your card.

How Many Photos Per GB? (Chart)

How many photos per GB? You can hold as many as 580 and as few as 192 in one GB of digital storage. This is for an average image resolution of 5.5MP up to 18MP. And it’s based on a compressed image format.

For more detail, check out this chart showing the effect of image resolution on storage capacity.

Megapixels	File Size (MB)	Images Per GB
5.5MP	1.7	588
8MP	2.4	417
10MP	3.0	333
11MP	3.3	303
12MP	3.6	277
16.6MP	5.0	200
18MP	5.2	192

Hero11 Black shoots 27MP still photos. This is up from the 23MP image resolution of the Hero10 Black.

For older GoPro cameras, the most common image resolution is 12MP. This includes the Hero8 Black, the older Hero7 Black, and Hero6 Black. Hero7 White and Silver both shoot in 10MP. And the 360 cameras (Max and Fusion) shoot 16.6MP photos in 360 degrees.

Please note that the file size is approximate. I’ve seen file sizes for a 12MP GoPro photo range from 3.3MB to 5MB. The more complex the photo, the larger it can be. I chose 3.6MB as an average photo size for 12MP resolution.

Keep reading: What Does GB Mean?

Number of Photos Per GB

How many pictures per GB can you store on a memory card? 277 images at 12MP resolution will take up one GB of storage space.

For many years, the standard photo resolution of GoPro cameras is 12MP.

Learn how to improve your GoPro photography.

How Many Photos Can My Memory Card Hold?

To help you plan card usage, here is a chart that breaks down the image capacity of each memory card size.

How many photos can it hold? 16GB to 1TB (Chart)

Card Size	GoPro Hero8	GoPro Max	Canon 80D
Image Resolution	12MP / 3.6MB	16.6MP / 5MB	24.2MP / 49MB
16GB	4,444	3,200	326
32GB	8,889	6,400	653
64GB	17,778	12,800	1,306
128GB	35,556	25,600	2,612
256GB	71,111	51,200	5,224
512GB	142,222	102,400	10,448
1TB	277,778	200,000	20,408

A couple of notes about the data in this chart:

• GoPro image sizes are based on the maximum photo resolution for each of the Hero8 Black (12MP) and the GoPro Max (16.6MP).
• Canon 80D image size is based on 24.2MP resolution, uncompressed RAW/DNG 16 bits/pixel.

For a great quality microSD card, I recommend SanDisk. They come in sizes from 32GB to 1TB.

How many photos can 16GB hold?

A 16GB memory card can hold approximately 4,400 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 16GB card.

• 12MP: 4,400 photos
• 16.6MP: 3,200 photos
• 24.2MP: 326 photos

How many photos can 32GB hold?

A 32GB memory card can hold approximately 8,889 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 32GB card.

• 12MP: 8,889 photos
• 16.6MP: 6,400 photos
• 24.2MP: 653 photos

How many photos can 64GB hold?

A 64GB memory card can hold approximately 17,778 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 64GB card.

• 12MP: 17,778 photos
• 16.6MP: 12,800 photos
• 24.2MP: 1,306 photos

How many photos can 128GB hold?

A 128GB memory card can hold approximately 35,556 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 128GB card.

• 12MP: 35,556 photos
• 16.6MP: 25,600 photos
• 24.2MP: 2,612 photos

How many photos can 256GB hold?

A 256GB memory card can hold approximately 71,111 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 256GB card.

• 12MP: 71,111 photos
• 16.6MP: 51,200 photos
• 24.2MP: 5,224 photos

How many photos can 512GB hold?

A 256GB memory card can hold approximately 142,222 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 512GB card.

• 12MP: 142,222 photos
• 16.6MP: 102,400 photos
• 24.2MP: 10,448 photos

How many photos can 1TB hold?

A 256GB memory card can hold approximately 277,778 photos. This is based on jpg file format, at 12MP, a standard GoPro image resolution.

Here are how many images from each of these cameras can fit on a 1TB card.

• 12MP: 277,778 photos
• 16.6MP: 200,000 photos
• 24.2MP: 20,408 photos

Learn more with our GoPro SD Card Guide

More reading: How to Format Your SD Card (5 Ways)

4 Ways to Use Your Photo Capacity

When would you ever need space for 100,000 photos? As you read this post, you’re probably surprised to see that huge volume of images that can be stored on an average SD card.

When would you ever need this kind of space?

1. Extended Time Lapse: Perfect for long time lapses – watching the tide rise and fall or the sunset. An 8-hour shoot, with an image shot every 5 seconds will create 5,750 photos. Learn more about GoPro time lapses.
2. Incremental shooting: Shoot one image every so many seconds to capture the feel of the trip. You might also consider using TimeWarp to create this effect.
3. Extended trip: If you are going on a long trip, you could easily shoot more than 20,000 images. This is true especially if you combine standard photos along with a few time-lapse videos.
4. Videos: While this post is focused on the image capacity of memory cards, don’t forget that you’ll probably be shooting lots of videos. And they can consume a lot of space. After a trip, my memory cards typically have more GB of video than photos.

Even though you can easily have room for all your photos on one microSD card, I recommend bringing a couple.

And I always try to upload my footage every night. This keeps my photos and videos safe – and keeps my memory cards ready to be filled up the next day.

Your Turn

Have a question about photo storage? Or maybe a tip about managing pictures on memory cards? Let me know below!