How many photos can 256GB hold? Off the bat, I am pretty sure that you know it holds a considerable amount of pictures. Whether you are storing them on a hard drive or shooting with a digital camera, 256GB will be able to store tons of photos.
So how much does it hold? I have created a quick guide below that will provide you with your answers.
How Many Pics Can Fit on 256GB?
Before I get into the meat of the matter, I should start off by saying that the information presented in the tables below are all estimates. The numbers are based off real world numbers, however you can expect 256GB to hold more or less pictures, and it really depends on a variety of factors. This could be anything from the size of the photograph, the megapixels in which it was taken, among other things.
Estimates used:
1 MP = 1,000,000 pixels
1MB = 1,000,000 bytes, 1GB = 1,000MB
JPEG 100% Quality = Visually lossless JPEG compression with 1:10 ratio of RAW image
Photos – Compressed (JPEG 100% quality) Images per card. (info by Sandisk)
| Megapixels | File size (MB) | 256GB |
| 4MP | 1.2 | 183,104 |
| 5MP | 1.5 | 146,480 |
| 6MP | 1.8 | 122,064 |
| 7MP | 2.1 | 104,624 |
| 8MP | 2.4 | 91,552 |
| 10MP | 3.0 | 73,240 |
| 12MP | 3.6 | 61,032 |
| 14MP | 4.2 | 52,312 |
| 16MP | 4.8 | 45,776 |
| 22MP | 6.6 | 33,288 |
Shooting RAW with your DSLR will end up taking more space, than regular JPG’s. RAW photos are uncompressed and because of that, if you are using a 256GB SD card, then it will naturally end up holding less photos.
Photos – Uncompressed RAW (24 bits per pixel) Images per card
| Megapixels | File size (MB) | 256GB |
| 4MP | 12.0 | 18,304 |
| 5MP | 15.0 | 14,648 |
| 6MP | 18.0 | 12,200 |
| 7MP | 21.0 | 10,456 |
| 8MP | 24.0 | 9,152 |
| 10MP | 30.0 | 7,320 |
| 12MP | 36.0 | 6,096 |
| 14MP | 42.0 | 5,224 |
| 16MP | 48.0 | 4,576 |
| 22MP | 66.0 | 3,328 |
OK, so now you should have a solid idea as to how much photos can hold on 256GB. If you are planning to use a hard drive, or you have a memory card that big, then you should be able to save a significant amount of pictures on the storage medium.
However, if you feel that you need more space, larger storage options do exist.
You should also be aware that you could use this chart to get an idea of how much a 256GB MicroSD card can hold, as this is not just for digital cameras.
If you want to look at other storage sizes, I have guides on 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 512 GB, 1TB & 2 TB.