DataCalc
Dailies Calculator
Film and video dailies calculator for professional productions. Calculate storage requirements and data management needs for your project's ideal workflow.
How this calculator works
The Dailies Calculator sizes the full data footprint of a production day: original camera files across all cameras, proxy/editorial transcodes, and the redundant copies your backup policy requires. It answers the producer question — "how much storage do we actually need to buy?" — with real numbers.
A common mistake is budgeting only for original camera files. A sound 3-2-1 style policy (multiple copies on set, a shuttle drive to post, and an archive copy) multiplies every shot terabyte by three or more before editorial even starts.
Total production storage
Total = Daily camera data × Shoot days × Number of copies (+ proxies)
Example: 2 TB/day × 20 days × 3 copies = 120 TB before proxies.
| Copy | Where it lives | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Original offload | On-set RAID | 2 TB |
| Second copy | Shuttle drive to post | 4 TB |
| Archive copy | LTO tape or cloud | 6 TB |
| Editorial proxies | Edit shared storage | + ~5–10% of OCF |
Frequently asked questions
What are dailies?
Dailies are the viewable copies of each day's footage — traditionally processed overnight so the director and studio could watch "yesterday's work daily." Today the term covers the whole nightly pipeline: offload, backup, color-managed transcodes, and delivery to editorial and review platforms.
How much storage does a shoot day generate?
Anywhere from a few hundred gigabytes on a documentary mirrorless package to 6+ TB on a multi-camera RAW narrative shoot — before copies. Use the Camera ↔︎ File Size calculator for per-camera estimates, then multiply by your backup policy here.
What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?
Keep at least 3 copies of the data, on 2 different types of media, with 1 copy off-site. On a production that typically means the on-set RAID, a shuttle drive, and an LTO or cloud archive — no camera card gets formatted until all copies verify.
How big should editorial proxies be?
Common proxy formats (ProRes Proxy or LT, DNxHR LB) run roughly 5–15% of original camera file size depending on the OCF codec. Heavier "online-quality" transcodes can approach or exceed OCF size — decide before you buy drives.
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