Data size estimation drives every architectural decision. A boolean takes 1 bit, but a 4K video needs 375MB. Understanding these scales helps you plan storage, calculate bandwidth, and estimate costs. At internet scale, small differences compound: saving 100 bytes per user means 100GB less storage for 1 million users.
The key insight: optimize for your actual data patterns. If 90% of your traffic is text but 10% is video, the video will dominate your infrastructure costs. Design around your heaviest data types first.
⚡ Quick Decision
Optimize for Small Data When:
- • Handling millions of records
- • Memory constraints critical
- • Network bandwidth limited
Consider Compression When:
- • Text/JSON payloads >1KB
- • Images/video storage costs high
- • Mobile users with data limits
Plan for Large Data When:
- • Media-heavy applications
- • File uploads common
- • Storage costs become significant
💡 For implementation guides and code examples: See our technology deep dives: Object Storage, PostgreSQL, Redis
Interactive Data Size Explorer
Explore data sizes across different categories to understand storage and bandwidth requirements.
Primitive Data Types
Basic building blocks of all data structures
🧠 Data Size Memory Palace
Visual mnemonics to remember key data sizes. Think in orders of magnitude for quick estimates.