What internet speed do you need for 4K streaming?

Plan for 25 Mbps per 4K TV. That covers every major service that publishes a 4K figure. Netflix asks for less, at 15 Mbps, and YouTube asks for 20. If two TVs might play 4K at the same time, you need about 50 Mbps for them alone, before anyone else in the house goes online.

Where the numbers come from

Each figure is the service's own recommendation for one stream:

• Netflix recommends 15 Mbps or higher for Ultra HD.
• YouTube gives 20 Mbps as the recommended sustained speed for 4K.
• Disney+, Apple's TV app and YouTube TV (on the 4K Plus add-on) all say 25 Mbps.
• HBO Max sets 25 Mbps as the minimum and recommends 50 Mbps or more for the best experience. Below 25 Mbps, it won't play in 4K at all.

The gap between 15 and 25 mostly reflects how hard each service compresses its video. It doesn't mean Netflix 4K looks worse. Every one of these apps adjusts quality to your connection, so a slower line usually gets you a softer 1080p picture rather than an error message.

Two services are missing from the table. Prime Video's help page gives figures only for SD (1 Mb/s) and HD (5 Mb/s), and publishes no 4K number. The 4K figures quoted elsewhere aren't Amazon's. Hulu's help page couldn't be checked when this was written, so its number is left out rather than repeated second-hand.

How many 4K TVs your plan can handle

Add up the streams that might run at once, then leave room for everything else. A common rule of thumb is about 25% headroom, because the requirement is for a steady speed and your connection dips from moment to moment.

4K streams at once	Streams alone	With ~25% headroom (estimate)
1	25 Mbps	about 31 Mbps
2	50 Mbps	about 63 Mbps
3	75 Mbps	about 94 Mbps

That's the streaming on its own. Video calls, game downloads and phone backups all come out of the same connection. A household with two 4K TVs and normal evening use is comfortable on a 100 Mbps plan. One 4K TV in a small home fits within a 50 Mbps plan, and what 50 Mbps can handle goes into the details.

Speed at the router isn't speed at the TV

A plan that easily covers 25 Mbps can still buffer in 4K, because the number that matters is the one reaching the TV. The TV's built-in Wi-Fi is often weaker than a phone's, and TVs tend to sit behind cabinets, walls and other electronics.

To check, test on the TV itself if its browser can open a speed test, or use its built-in network test. Otherwise, hold a phone right next to the TV on the same Wi-Fi network. If the router room gets 200 Mbps and the TV gets 20, the Wi-Fi is the bottleneck, not the plan.

The most reliable fix is Ethernet. Some TVs have Ethernet ports limited to 100 Mbps, which is still four times what a 25 Mbps stream needs. If a cable isn't practical, a mesh node or access point near the TV usually solves it. Wi-Fi is slower than Ethernet explains why the cable wins.

Speed is only one requirement

Fast internet alone won't get you 4K. You also need:

• A 4K plan tier, on services that charge extra for it. HBO Max, for example, limits 4K to its Premium plan.
• A 4K-capable device and app. Older streaming sticks and some browsers stop at 1080p. On Apple's TV website, for example, 4K HDR plays only in Safari on a Mac, and other browsers stop at 1080p.
• Content filmed and offered in 4K. Plenty of titles top out at HD.
• The right playback setting. Netflix and YouTube let you cap quality to save data. A capped setting looks like a slow connection.

If the speed checks out and you still don't see 4K, look at these before you upgrade your plan. For Netflix in particular, Netflix speed requirements by quality covers the lower tiers too.