Key takeaways
- 1m 45s for 250 MB at 20 Mbps, and 2m 30s at 70% of the quoted speed, which is closer to real life.
- Upload speed is quoted in megabits per second; divide by 8 for megabytes per second.
Reading the estimate
The estimate divides the size in megabits by your upload speed. It assumes the connection delivers its quoted rate for the whole transfer, which it rarely does; the 70% row is the safer number.
Upload speed is usually lower than download speed, so use the upload figure from your own speed test.
Scenarios
| Scenario | Estimated upload time | At 70% of the quoted speed | Your speed in MB/s |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 MB at 10 Mbps | 1m 24s | 1m 60s | 1.25 MB/s |
| 250 MB at 20 Mbps | 1m 45s | 2m 30s | 2.50 MB/s |
| 1 GB at 50 Mbps | 2m 52s | 4m 5s | 6.25 MB/s |
| 4 GB at 100 Mbps | 5m 44s | 8m 11s | 12.50 MB/s |
| 25 MB at 5 Mbps | 42s | 60s | 0.63 MB/s |
Upload time for common sizes and speeds
At the full quoted speed. Multiply by about 1.4 for the 70% case.
| File size | 5 Mbps | 20 Mbps | 50 Mbps | 100 Mbps | 500 Mbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 MB | 42s | 10s | 4s | 2s | 0s |
| 100 MB | 2m 48s | 42s | 17s | 8s | 2s |
| 500 MB | 13m 59s | 3m 30s | 1m 24s | 42s | 8s |
| 2 GB | 57m 16s | 14m 19s | 5m 44s | 2m 52s | 34s |
| 10 GB | 4h 46m 20s | 1h 11m 35s | 28m 38s | 14m 19s | 2m 52s |