For a 24/7 YouTube stream, the video feed’s sustained bitrate is the starting point for estimating Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) public internet egress. At YouTube’s recommended H.264 settings, a 30-day 1080p30 feed is about 3.24 decimal TB of payload and 1080p60 is about 3.89 TB; both are below Oracle’s stated 10 TB/month public egress allowance if the channel is the tenancy’s only material outbound workload.
Those figures are calculations, not forecasts of exact billed traffic or a complete OCI bill. Other outbound workloads, protocol overhead, billing-period details, region and the compute and storage you choose all matter. Check Oracle’s current pricing and your tenancy usage before deciding that a stream will cost nothing.
What counts as stream egress
For this estimate, egress is data sent from the OCI source to the public internet. The relevant path is the encoder sending the live feed to YouTube. The configured video and audio bitrate largely determines the amount of payload sent over that path; your viewers’ playback is not another copy of the feed leaving your OCI tenancy.
YouTube says it transcodes a live stream into different output formats so viewers on different devices and networks can watch. That means you should not multiply OCI’s outbound stream volume by the number of people watching. Viewer delivery is handled by YouTube, rather than by your OCI instance sending a separate stream to each viewer. This calculation is about creator-to-YouTube ingest, not YouTube’s own distribution costs. See YouTube’s explanation of live-stream transcoding.
The distinction is useful whether your channel carries bhajans, a study loop, a local news bulletin or a fixed ambience video: a larger audience does not, by itself, multiply the encoder’s OCI egress. A change to the outgoing bitrate does. If you are considering an OCI virtual machine as the source, the Mumbai cloud VM setup guide can help you think through the broader deployment; the transfer calculation below remains tied to the feed bitrate.
Calculate monthly transfer from bitrate
A 30-day month has 2,592,000 seconds. At a constant bitrate of 1 megabit per second, the feed sends 2,592,000 megabits in that period. Divide by eight to convert bits to bytes, then use decimal units: 1 TB is 1,000 GB, or 1,000,000 MB. The result is about 324,000 MB, equivalent to 324 GB or 0.324 TB.
For a sustained encoder bitrate, the quick formula is:
Approximate 30-day payload in decimal TB = bitrate in Mbps × 0.324
For example, 10 Mbps × 0.324 gives about 3.24 TB. This is the stream’s calculated payload under the stated assumptions. It is not a claim that OCI will meter precisely that amount: packet and transport overhead, variable bitrate, interruptions, the actual billing period and other traffic can change metered bytes.
The bitrate here is the total outgoing stream bitrate, not just the video track. If you change encoder settings or include audio at a different setting, use the total sustained output figure as your input. YouTube’s encoder settings guidance lists recommended H.264 bitrates for common resolutions and frame rates. Its guidance is a starting point for stream quality and compatibility, not an instruction to use a particular setting regardless of your material or connection.
For a more complete comparison, the table applies the same simple 30-day formula to four recommended settings. The indicative overage column is deliberately restricted to the dated Oracle example discussed later; it is not a current price quotation.
| Sustained H.264 bitrate | 30-day calculated payload | Amount above 10 TB, before other tenancy traffic | Indicative overage using Oracle’s dated example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Mbps, 1080p30 | 3.24 TB | 0 TB | $0 |
| 12 Mbps, 1080p60 | 3.89 TB | 0 TB | $0 |
| 35 Mbps, 2160p30 | 11.34 TB | 1.34 TB | about $11.39 |
| 50 Mbps, 2160p60 | 16.20 TB | 6.20 TB | about $52.70 |
The zero in the first two rows means that calculated payload alone is under a 10 TB allowance. It does not mean a zero bill is guaranteed: the allowance is shared with other eligible traffic, and other OCI services or resources can incur charges independently of public internet egress.
Estimate a 30-day 1080p30 example
YouTube’s recommended H.264 bitrate for 1080p at 30 frames per second is 10 Mbps. Use that as a clear example rather than a universal setting for every devotional or music stream. The calculation is 10 × 0.324, which gives approximately 3.24 decimal TB of payload over 30 uninterrupted days.
The arithmetic assumes the encoder sends at a constant 10 Mbps for every second of the month. Real output can fluctuate, and the channel may have interruptions or a different billing-period length. The result is therefore useful for understanding scale and comparing bitrate choices, but it should not be labelled exact billed traffic.
If this is the only material outbound workload in the tenancy, 3.24 TB is below Oracle’s stated first 10 TB/month public egress allowance. That leaves room, in this simplified comparison, for other outbound use before reaching the threshold. It is not reserved headroom for your channel, and it is not proof that the tenancy has no other costs. For a pre-recorded feed, see the guide to keeping a YouTube playlist stream running with your computer off for the separate operational question of how the broadcast continues when a local machine is unavailable.
Do not add YouTube’s connection headroom recommendation as if it were another 20 per cent of video traffic. YouTube advises leaving about 20 per cent extra upload bandwidth beyond the stream bitrate so the connection can accommodate variation. That is a capacity margin for the network path; it does not mean the encoder should continuously transmit an extra stream. The YouTube streaming tips are relevant when checking whether an uplink can sustain the chosen setting.
Estimate a 30-day 1080p60 example
For H.264 at 1080p60, YouTube recommends 12 Mbps. Applying the same formula gives 12 × 0.324 = 3.888 TB, which is approximately 3.89 decimal TB of payload in a 30-day month. Compared with 1080p30, the higher recommended bitrate adds about 0.65 TB of calculated payload over that period.
That comparison makes the trade-off visible: a higher frame rate can be useful for motion that benefits from smoother movement, but it increases the continuous transfer estimate. A stationary image behind a slow-moving devotional or ambient programme may not need the same motion treatment as fast gameplay. Choose an encoding setting for the content and test it, rather than assuming the largest number is automatically better.
As with 1080p30, the payload alone is below 10 TB. If other workloads already use part of the tenancy allowance, their egress must be counted alongside the stream. If your programme is a loop of regional music or spoken content, the Marathi bhajan looping guide addresses playlist continuity; this example addresses only the network transfer from the cloud encoder to YouTube.
Compare with Oracle’s egress allowance
Oracle’s VCN pricing page states that the first 10 TB per month of public internet egress is free. Oracle’s Always Free documentation also lists 10 TB per month of outbound data transfer as an Always Free resource. Confirm the applicable terms on Oracle’s current VCN pricing page and Always Free resource documentation before budgeting; the allowance should not be read as ten terabytes set aside for one stream.
Under the simplified comparison, the 10 Mbps and 12 Mbps examples are below that threshold. At 35 Mbps, the formula gives 11.34 TB, or approximately 1.34 TB above 10 TB before considering the rest of the tenancy. At 50 Mbps, it gives 16.2 TB, or 6.2 TB above the threshold. Those higher settings show why bitrate and the shared allowance need to be considered together.
Oracle’s Cloud Economics page provides a North America example for 50 TB per month: the first 10,000 GB are free, and its OCI cost example is $0.47 per hour, with a 730-hour month assumption. Oracle dates those prices to 6 December 2024. Multiplying the hourly figure by 730 yields about $343 for that example month. Spreading that amount over the 40,000 GB above the free 10,000 GB gives an inferred rate of roughly $0.0085 per GB.
Applying that dated, inferred rate to 1.34 TB (1,340 decimal GB) gives an illustrative figure of about $11.39; applying it to 6.20 TB gives about $52.70. These are calculations from Oracle’s published historical example, not a separately quoted per-GB rate, a current price, or a universal rate for every region. Oracle’s Cloud Economics page and live pricing tools are the appropriate places to verify a current, region-specific estimate. This comparison does not include compute, storage, IP or other services, and cannot produce a complete cloud bill without those details.
Account for overhead and other workloads
The formula estimates video-feed payload, while cloud billing measures traffic under the provider’s rules. Transport and protocol overhead mean bytes sent can exceed the encoded media payload. Variable bitrate can make actual transfer higher or lower than the constant-rate assumption. In addition, billing windows may not align exactly with a 30-day example, and unit conversion or rounding details can affect an invoice. Do not treat the payload number as exact metered traffic.
The 10 TB allowance is also shared with other public internet egress in the tenancy. Backups copied out of OCI, software downloads, other streams or services can use some of it. If a 1080p30 stream produces a calculated 3.24 TB, the remaining difference to 10 TB is only a simple arithmetic remainder, not a guaranteed safe margin: additional traffic and overhead still need to be checked. The same caution applies even where the stream’s own payload is under the threshold.
A practical capacity check is not a billing multiplier. YouTube recommends around 20 per cent additional upload bandwidth beyond the stream bitrate. That margin helps the connection cope with variation; it should not automatically be added to the monthly payload as though the encoder transmitted at that higher rate continuously. Monitor stream health during a representative test that includes realistic audio and motion.
Also separate egress from the rest of a 24/7 deployment. An OCI estimate needs the selected region, instance shape and runtime, storage, IP and networking resources, and any other services. Since those choices are not specified here, a single total monthly OCI cost would be misleading. If you are deciding whether to use a cloud VM or a different operating arrangement, compare those full operating needs in the cloud service options for pre-recorded YouTube Live streams, not just the bandwidth line.
When the recurring burden is keeping a local computer on, StreamNeo removes that specific task by turning an uploaded file into a YouTube-only live stream that continues with your computer switched off. That addresses the operation of a file-based broadcast, not the need to check content rights, YouTube stream health or the costs and rules that apply to any other cloud workload.
Check the tenancy’s current usage
Before launch, review the OCI tenancy’s billing and cost information for public internet egress, the billing period and the region relevant to the deployment. Compare the observed usage with the stream’s calculated payload, then investigate differences rather than assuming the formula must match the meter. You need the tenancy-wide view because another workload may consume part of the same allowance.
For a useful check, record the chosen total encoder bitrate and the period observed. Test the actual channel configuration, including audio, then compare usage across a representative interval. A short test can help identify the path and settings, but it does not establish a full-month bill if the workload changes or the billing window is different. Review current OCI pricing and billing aggregation details directly with Oracle before making a purchasing decision; the available figures here do not resolve every region-specific rate or rounding rule.
Treat the allowance as one line in a wider cost review. Price compute runtime, storage and any other resources separately, and include the possibility that other outbound workloads affect egress. If you change resolution or frame rate, recalculate using the new total bitrate. For a production channel, keep a written assumption sheet with bitrate, month length, units and shared tenancy traffic so another person can reproduce the estimate.
Before committing, compare the operating options on the pricing page. When the file and channel are ready, start free — 24-hour trial, no card.
FAQ
Does a 10 Mbps 1080p30 feed use the whole 10 TB allowance?
No. At a constant 10 Mbps for 30 days, the calculated payload is about 3.24 decimal TB. The allowance is shared, however, and actual metered traffic can differ because of overhead, other workloads and billing details.
Should I multiply OCI egress by my YouTube audience size?
Not for the creator-to-YouTube feed in this calculation. You send an encoded stream to YouTube, which transcodes it for viewers; audience delivery is not a separate copy sent from your OCI instance to each viewer.
Is the $11.39 figure a current Oracle price for a 35 Mbps stream?
No. It is an illustration derived from Oracle’s North America 50 TB example, whose prices were dated 6 December 2024. Check Oracle’s current regional pricing and your tenancy’s usage before forecasting an actual bill.
Does YouTube’s 20 per cent bandwidth margin add 20 per cent to egress?
Not automatically. The recommendation is extra upload capacity so the connection has room beyond the stream bitrate; it is not an instruction to transmit a second, larger feed continuously. Base the transfer estimate on the encoder’s actual outgoing bitrate, then account for real traffic and overhead separately.