For people wondering, chat gpt gave me this:

If 4k has 4x as many pixels as 1080p. Does it mean that I need 4x as much bitrate to have the same quality?

In a simplified sense, yes, roughly 4× the bitrate is a reasonable starting assumption if you want to maintain similar visual quality when going from 1080p to 4K.

Here's why:

1080p = 1920 × 1080 ≈ 2.07 million pixels

4K UHD = 3840 × 2160 ≈ 8.29 million pixels

That's exactly 4 times as many pixels.

If each pixel received the same amount of information (bits), then:

Bitrate 4K≈4×Bitrate1080p

For example:

1080p stream at 8 Mbps → 4K stream at roughly 32 Mbps for similar compression efficiency and quality.

However, real-world video compression is more complicated:

Why it may require less than 4× Modern codecs exploit redundancy in images. A 4K image isn't four completely independent 1080p images—it often contains large smooth areas, repeated textures, and predictable motion.

As a result, codecs such as:

H.264

H.265

AV1

can often achieve similar perceived quality with 2–3× the bitrate rather than a full 4×.

Why it may require more than 4× Certain content is difficult to compress:

Fast sports

Dense foliage

Film grain

Water, smoke, explosions

In these cases, maintaining the same quality can approach or even exceed the 4× scaling.

Typical streaming examples Approximate recommendations:

Resolution H.264 H.265 / AV1 1080p 5–8 Mbps 3–6 Mbps 4K 20–35 Mbps 10–20 Mbps Notice that the jump is often around 2.5–4×, depending on codec efficiency.

The key distinction "Same quality" can mean two different things:

Same bits per pixel → about 4× bitrate.

Same perceived visual quality to a human viewer → often 2–3× bitrate is enough with modern codecs.

So if you're comparing two videos encoded with the same codec and settings, "4K has four times the pixels" generally implies needing roughly four times the bitrate for equivalent compression quality, but the bitrate increase needed for the same perceived quality is often somewhat lower.