How Much Data Does Spotify Use? MB per Hour and How to Use Less

If you'd rather stream than juggle downloads on your next trip, a HelloRoam eSIM for your destination puts local mobile data on your phone, and the numbers below show how big a plan your listening needs.

We worked out the per-hour figures from the bitrates and the lossless connection advice on Spotify's Australian help pages, read on 29 October 2026, counting 1,000 MB to the GB as our data calculator does.

Spotify data per hour runs from 11 MB on Low to 144 MB on Very high

Your audio quality setting decides how much data Spotify uses. Spotify's audio quality help page gives a bitrate for most levels, and the maths from there is simple: the bitrate times 3,600 seconds, divided by eight bits per byte. Normal at 96 kbit/s comes to 345,600 kilobits an hour, which is 43.2 MB.

Spotify Free tops out at High in the app, so without Premium the most you'll stream is about 72 MB an hour. The Automatic setting changes with your network connection, so pick a fixed level when your data is tight.

Podcasts stream at about 96 kbit/s too, so an hour of an audio podcast is also about 43 MB. Set the app to Low and podcasts drop to about 24 kbit/s, or about 11 MB an hour.

These figures cover the audio stream. Cover art and the short looping Canvas visuals add a bit on top, though Spotify says Canvas uses very little data: after one loop, it needs no more.

Lossless and video podcasts use the most Spotify data

Lossless is Spotify's top music setting: up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC, for Premium only. Australia was in Spotify's first group of Lossless markets. Spotify's Australian help pages don't give it a bitrate, but its lossless page recommends a steady 1.5 to 2 Mbps connection. A stream that used all of that would take 675 to 900 MB an hour, so 1GB could be gone in under an hour and a half.

There's a catch for travellers on wireless earbuds. When it launched Lossless, Spotify said Bluetooth doesn't have enough bandwidth for it, so the signal gets compressed before it reaches you. Spotify lets you set Lossless separately for Wi-Fi, mobile streaming and downloads, so keep it to Wi-Fi and downloads and leave mobile streaming on Normal or High.

Video is the other big user. Spotify's help pages don't give a figure for video podcasts, but it says videos use more data than music and only play while they're on screen. Lock your phone or leave the episode and only the audio plays.

Telstra and Vodafone music estimates line up with Spotify's bitrates

Telstra and Vodafone publish their own rough guides, and they name the quality levels differently. Telstra's guide puts streaming audio from apps like Spotify at 30 to 50 MB an hour on low quality, 50 to 100 MB on medium and 100 to 150 MB on high. That puts Spotify's Normal in Telstra's low band, High in its medium band and Very high in its high band, while Spotify's Low sits below all three. Vodafone estimates streaming music at 128 MB an hour, and says 1GB streams roughly eight hours of high-quality 320 kbps music, the bitrate of Spotify's Very high.

Both are broad estimates that cover several apps, and Vodafone says your usage may vary. Matched by quality, they land close to Spotify's own figures, so for a small travel plan the number that matters is which setting you're on.

Spotify settings that cut mobile data overseas

These settings sit in the Spotify app on both iPhone and Android. Each one starts the same way: tap your profile picture at the top, then Settings and privacy.

1. Turn on Data saver. Tap Data-saving and offline and switch Data saver on. Spotify says it shows fewer images and lowers audio quality.
2. Set your mobile streaming quality. Under Media Quality, pick a level for cellular streaming and keep a higher one for Wi-Fi if you like. Spotify's Premium page calls this section Audio Quality on iPhone.
3. Stream video podcasts as audio. In Data-saving and offline, under Downloads and streaming, switch on Audio-only streaming.
4. Leave Downloads over cellular off. Spotify downloads on Wi-Fi by default, and this switch in the same section keeps it that way.
5. Switch Autoplay off. Spotify says this stops the app playing more music after what you picked.
6. Turn off Canvas if you want every last megabyte. It sits under Content and display, and Spotify says it uses very little data, so this one's optional.

Spotify downloads play with no mobile data

The cheapest hour of Spotify overseas is one you downloaded at home on Wi-Fi. On Premium you can download albums, playlists and podcasts. On the free version, you can only download podcasts.

• You can't download single songs, so add them to a playlist and download that.
• Spotify recommends at least 1GB of free storage on your phone. Higher download quality uses more space, not more mobile data, as long as downloads stay on Wi-Fi.
• Go online at least once every 30 days or you lose your downloads. Spotify needs the check-in to collect play data and pay artists. On a three-month trip, that means getting online at least once a month, on Wi-Fi or your travel data.
• Downloads play by themselves when you lose signal. When you're on mobile data, switch on Offline mode in Data-saving and offline, so only your downloads play and nothing streams by accident.
• Forgot to download? Premium's Offline Backup builds a mix from your recent listens and queued tracks for offline play. It only holds songs already cached on that phone, so it needs Offline listening switched on and some recent listening.

Your phone shows how much data Spotify really used

Your phone keeps a count of mobile data for each app, so you can see what Spotify itself used, artwork, video and accidental streams included. Your carrier may count your total a little differently, as Apple and Google both note.

On iPhone, open Settings, tap Mobile and scroll to find Spotify. Reset Statistics on the same screen starts the count again, as Apple's mobile data guide explains.

On a Pixel, open Settings, tap Network and Internet, then Internet. Tap Settings next to your operator, then App data usage. Google's Pixel data usage help says to check with your phone's maker if the steps don't work for you.

On a Samsung Galaxy, open Settings, tap Connections, then Data usage. Mobile data usage on that screen shows how much each app has used.

Try a test hour before you go. Reset the count, stream an hour on your usual setting away from Wi-Fi, then check Spotify's line. If it's well above the table, something extra is streaming, like a video podcast.

Two hours of Spotify a day for a fortnight needs 1.5 to 4.9 GB

Say you're away for two weeks and stream two hours a day on the train, the bus or the beach. Multiply the hourly figure out, then add 20% for busy days and round up.

Normal works out at 86.4 MB a day, or about 1.2 GB for the fortnight. Buy at least 1.5 GB, which adds 20% for busy days. Songs you downloaded on Wi-Fi before you left don't count toward any of it.

That's Spotify on its own. Add your maps, messages and socials to work out how much data you need overseas. The calculator counts an hour of music at about 90 MB, between Spotify's High and Very high. On Normal, your real music use is about half that. On Very high, enter about 1.6 hours for every hour you listen. Then add 20% to the calculator's total for busy days and round up, as in the table above.

Pick a HelloRoam plan at or above that whole-trip figure for where you're headed, with 24/7 support if anything plays up after you land. Before you buy, find your phone on our list of eSIM phones.