The evolution of TV is ever changing. It has become a near-standard feature for new TV’s over 50 inches to feature “Ultra High Definition” – 4K (3840 by 2160 pixels) instead of HD (1920 by 1080 pixels). 4K technology gives you four times the detail of HD and displays twice as much information as the standard HD TV (50 frames per second vs. 25).
The online streaming providers like Netflix and Amazon have the largest selection of 4K content and that content continues to grow. With this technology and online streaming becoming more popular, this requires more bandwidth in the home.
So How Much Bandwidth Do You Need to Watch 4k?
Different streaming services offer slightly different recommendations. Netflix recommends 25Mbps while Amazon recommends 15Mbps. Keep in mind, these recommended speeds are the minimums for ONE stream. If other devices in the home will be using the Internet at the same time, you will need more than the minimum bandwidth.
Below are Internet download speed recommendations per stream from Netflix:
• 0.5 Megabits per second
– Required broadband connection speed
• 1.5 Megabits per second
– Recommended broadband connection speed
• 3.0 Megabits per second
– Recommended for SD quality
• 5.0 Megabits per second
– Recommended for HD quality
• 25 Megabits per second
– Recommended for Ultra HD quality