File Transfer Time Calculator — How Long Will My File Take to Copy?
A reference guide for calculating file transfer times across different network speeds and connection types. Includes ready-to-use tables for common file sizes and office network setups.
Transfer time is simply file size divided by sustained speed: a 10 GB file at ~110 MB/s on wired gigabit is about 90 seconds, at ~50 MB/s on good Wi-Fi about 3 minutes, and over a typical 100 Mbps cloud upload roughly 14 minutes plus the recipient's download. Use the calculator above with your own file size — the gap between LAN and cloud is the whole reason local transfer is worth it for big files.
Calculate Your Transfer
Type your file size and see the time for every common connection at once:
Transfer time calculator
- Wired gigabit LAN · ~110 MB/s3.0 minutes
- Wi-Fi 5 — good conditions · ~50 MB/s6.7 minutes
- Wi-Fi 5 — average office · ~25 MB/s13 minutes
- Cloud round-trip (100 Mbps up) · ~12 MB/s28 minutes
Time = size ÷ sustained speed. Cloud adds the receiver's download on top. Oxolan moves files directly over the LAN — the top row is the one your office cable already paid for.
The Formula
File transfer time in seconds = File size in megabytes ÷ Transfer speed in MB/s
For example: 10,000 MB (10 GB) ÷ 110 MB/s = 91 seconds (about 1.5 minutes) on wired gigabit.
The tricky part: your effective transfer speed depends on the connection type, current network load, and whether the bottleneck is the network or the drives involved.
Reference Table — Wired Gigabit Ethernet (~110 MB/s)
| File size | Transfer time |
|---|---|
| 100 MB (a small video, large PDF) | ~1 second |
| 500 MB (a Photoshop file, small CAD drawing) | ~5 seconds |
| 1 GB (a short video export, mid-size project) | ~9 seconds |
| 5 GB (a 4K video export, Revit model) | ~45 seconds |
| 10 GB (a full video project, RAW photo batch) | ~1.5 minutes |
| 50 GB (a full shoot, large project archive) | ~7.5 minutes |
| 100 GB (a large video project) | ~15 minutes |
| 500 GB (a full drive backup) | ~75 minutes |
| 1 TB | ~2.5 hours |
Reference Table — WiFi 5 Good Conditions (~50 MB/s)
| File size | Transfer time |
|---|---|
| 100 MB | ~2 seconds |
| 500 MB | ~10 seconds |
| 1 GB | ~20 seconds |
| 5 GB | ~1.7 minutes |
| 10 GB | ~3.3 minutes |
| 50 GB | ~17 minutes |
| 100 GB | ~33 minutes |
| 500 GB | ~2.8 hours |
| 1 TB | ~5.5 hours |
Reference Table — WiFi 5 Average Office Conditions (~25 MB/s)
| File size | Transfer time |
|---|---|
| 100 MB | ~4 seconds |
| 500 MB | ~20 seconds |
| 1 GB | ~40 seconds |
| 5 GB | ~3.3 minutes |
| 10 GB | ~6.7 minutes |
| 50 GB | ~33 minutes |
| 100 GB | ~67 minutes |
| 500 GB | ~5.5 hours |
| 1 TB | ~11 hours |
Reference Table — Cloud Upload (100 Mbps / ~12 MB/s upload)
This represents a typical mid-range office broadband — 100 Mbps upload / 200 Mbps download.
| File size | Upload time | Download time | Total roundtrip |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 MB | ~8 seconds | ~4 seconds | ~12 seconds |
| 500 MB | ~40 seconds | ~20 seconds | ~60 seconds |
| 1 GB | ~1.4 minutes | ~40 seconds | ~2 minutes |
| 5 GB | ~7 minutes | ~3.5 minutes | ~10 minutes |
| 10 GB | ~14 minutes | ~7 minutes | ~21 minutes |
| 50 GB | ~70 minutes | ~35 minutes | ~1.75 hours |
| 100 GB | ~2.3 hours | ~1.2 hours | ~3.5 hours |
Note: Cloud upload speed depends on your actual measured upload bandwidth. Test your ISP connection upload speed at fast.com or speedtest.net for accurate estimates.
Reference Table — USB Drive
| Drive type | Read speed | Write speed | 50 GB transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| USB 2.0 flash drive | 20–30 MB/s | 5–15 MB/s | 55–165 minutes |
| USB 3.0 flash drive | 60–150 MB/s | 20–80 MB/s | 10–42 minutes |
| USB 3.0 portable HDD | 80–130 MB/s | 80–130 MB/s | 6–10 minutes |
| USB 3.1 portable SSD | 400–1,000 MB/s | 400–900 MB/s | 0.8–2 minutes |
Calculating Your Specific Case
Step 1 — Know your file size: Right-click the file or folder in Windows/Mac → Properties/Get Info → note the size in GB or MB.
Step 2 — Know your effective transfer speed: Run a test transfer of a smaller file and measure MB/s (see our LAN Speed Test guide for methods). Or use the reference table that matches your connection type.
Step 3 — Calculate:
File size (MB) ÷ Transfer speed (MB/s) = Transfer time (seconds)
Convert seconds: divide by 60 for minutes, divide by 3600 for hours.
Example: 35 GB project folder over WiFi averaging 30 MB/s: 35,000 MB ÷ 30 MB/s = 1,167 seconds ≈ 19.5 minutes
What Slows Transfers Below Expected Speed
The times above are for network-speed-limited transfers. Real transfers can be slower than expected due to:
- Small files: Transferring 50,000 individual files is slower than one 50 GB archive because each file has connection overhead. Zip/archive first.
- Drive bottleneck: Source reads or destination writes slower than the network can send. A 5400 RPM HDD reads at ~100 MB/s — it can bottleneck on a fast network.
- Antivirus scanning: Real-time antivirus on the destination can halve write throughput.
- Network contention: Other devices on the same WiFi access point reduce available bandwidth.
- Cloud sync active: If a cloud client is uploading in the background during a local transfer, it competes for LAN bandwidth (on WiFi) or your internet bandwidth.
When Local LAN Transfer Is Worth It vs Cloud
At any file size over 1 GB being transferred between people in the same office, local LAN is faster than cloud — in most cases dramatically so. At 10 GB+, the difference is a 10–20 minute local transfer vs a 20–50+ minute cloud roundtrip.
For a daily file handoff of 5–20 GB between designers, engineers, or video editors, that time difference recurs every single day.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate file transfer time?
Divide the file size in megabytes by the transfer speed in MB/s. For example 10,000 MB (10 GB) ÷ 110 MB/s ≈ 91 seconds on wired gigabit. Use the calculator above to compare wired, Wi-Fi and cloud for any size — real speed depends on the connection and the slower of the network or the drives involved.
How long does it take to transfer a large file locally vs the cloud?
On wired gigabit, 10 GB takes about 90 seconds and 100 GB about 15 minutes. Through a typical 100 Mbps cloud upload, 10 GB takes roughly 14 minutes to upload plus the recipient's download time. The larger the file, the wider the gap — which is why local transfer wins for anything big.
What speed should I assume for my office network?
Use ~110 MB/s for wired gigabit, ~50 MB/s for good Wi-Fi, ~25 MB/s for an average congested office Wi-Fi, and your upload speed (often 1–6 MB/s) for cloud. A LAN transfer app like Oxolan reaches 60–115 MB/s on gigabit; plug your real numbers into the calculator above rather than trusting the theoretical maximum.
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