The GoPro HERO13 Black and HERO12 Black both top out at a bitrate of 120Mbps, with the Bit Rate setting on High. The default setting, Standard, uses much less. You’ll find it under Preferences > Video > Bit Rate.
That 120Mbps ceiling is the only bitrate figure GoPro publishes for these cameras. The manuals describe it as applying to 5.3K and 4K video, and there’s no official per-mode bitrate table. Both cameras also use variable bitrate: GoPro says the rate rises with more complex scenes and longer recordings, and that the newer encoder shrinks files when it can without hurting image quality.
So this page does two things. It shows which modes offer the High option, and it works out per-mode estimates from GoPro’s own recording-time figures.
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Why the bitrate matters
Bitrate is the amount of data the camera records for each second of video. A higher bitrate gives you more quality headroom, especially if you color-grade or edit your footage, at the cost of bigger files and more demanding memory cards. That’s why card choice and storage math both hang off this number. If you edit your footage, use High. If you share straight from your phone, Standard is fine, and it roughly doubles your recording time.
Which modes offer High Bit Rate
For the HERO13 Black, GoPro’s video settings article lists the Bit Rate options for every mode:
| Aspect ratio | Resolution / fps | Bit depth | Bit Rate options |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 5.3K 60/50 · 5.3K 30/25 · 5.3K 24 | 8-bit, 10-bit | Standard, High |
| 16:9 | 4K 120/100 · 4K 60/50 · 4K 30/25 · 4K 24 | 8-bit, 10-bit | Standard, High |
| 16:9 | 2.7K 240/200 · 1080p (all frame rates) | 8-bit | Standard only |
| 4:3 | 2.7K 120/100 | 8-bit | Standard, High |
| 8:7 | 5.3K 30/25/24 · 4K 60/50/30/25/24 | 8-bit, 10-bit | Standard, High |
| 9:16 | 4K 60/50/30/25/24 · 1080p 60/50/30/25 | 8-bit | Standard, High |
GoPro’s documentation doesn’t fully agree with itself. The manual says High is for 5.3K and 4K video, but the settings article also offers it for 4:3 2.7K and the 9:16 1080p modes. And while the settings article lists 2.7K240 and the 16:9 1080p modes as Standard only, GoPro’s recording-time table still gives a High time for them. The settings article is the more recently updated of the two.
For the HERO12 Black, GoPro’s video settings article doesn’t include a Bit Rate column at all. Its recording-time table gives both High and Standard times for every video mode.
Estimated bitrates by mode
These aren’t GoPro’s figures. They’re worked out from GoPro’s published recording times for a 128GB card: the card’s capacity in megabits divided by the recording time in seconds. GoPro describes those times as estimates in a static environment that will vary greatly, so treat these numbers as a guide to how the modes compare, not as exact rates.
| Aspect ratio | Mode | HERO13 High | HERO13 Standard | HERO12 High | HERO12 Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 5.3K60 | ~139 | ~71 | ~141 | ~73 |
| 16:9 | 5.3K30 | ~138 | ~64 | ~139 | ~66 |
| 16:9 | 5.3K24 | ~138 | ~59 | ~117 | ~60 |
| 16:9 | 4K120 | ~140 | ~89 | ~142 | ~92 |
| 16:9 | 4K60 | ~139 | ~65 | ~141 | ~62 |
| 16:9 | 4K30 | ~103 | ~53 | ~105 | ~43 |
| 16:9 | 4K24 | ~87 | ~36 | ~88 | ~38 |
| 16:9 | 2.7K240 | ~140 | ~84 | ~142 | ~92 |
| 16:9 | 1080p240 | ~139 | ~77 | ~137 | ~75 |
| 16:9 | 1080p120 | ~107 | ~56 | ~109 | ~58 |
| 16:9 | 1080p60 | ~77 | ~37 | ~79 | ~39 |
| 16:9 | 1080p30 | ~47 | ~25 | ~49 | ~26 |
| 16:9 | 1080p24 | — | — | ~43 | ~26 |
| 4:3 | 2.7K120 | ~140 | ~73 | ~142 | ~75 |
| 4:3 | 2.7K60 | — | — | ~129 | ~51 |
| 8:7 | 5.3K30 | ~138 | ~70 | ~139 | ~71 |
| 8:7 | 5.3K24 | ~138 | ~70 | ~117 | ~71 |
| 8:7 | 4K60 | ~139 | ~71 | ~141 | ~73 |
| 8:7 | 4K30 | ~138 | ~53 | ~133 | ~55 |
| 8:7 | 4K24 | ~121 | ~47 | ~105 | ~49 |
All figures are in Mbps. A dash means GoPro doesn’t list that mode for that camera. The 9:16 modes have the same recording times as their 16:9 equivalents.
In the fastest modes (5.3K, 4K60 and 4K120, 2.7K240, 1080p240, and 4:3 2.7K120) High works out to about 135–142Mbps on both cameras. Lower frame rates come in well under that: around 105Mbps at 4K30 and under 50Mbps at 1080p30. Standard mostly runs at about half the High rate, ranging from under 40% to about 65% depending on the mode.
You’ll notice that many of the High estimates sit above GoPro’s official 120Mbps maximum. GoPro doesn’t explain the gap. It’s one more reason to read these as relative figures rather than precise ones.
No, the HERO13 doesn’t record 400Mbps
A figure of 400 circulates for the HERO13 Black, but it’s a frame rate, not a bitrate. The HERO13’s Burst Slo-Mo mode can capture short 720p clips at 400 frames per second.
On standard firmware, both cameras top out at 120Mbps. The only way past that is GoPro Labs, GoPro’s experimental firmware, which lets you set a custom bitrate through a preset name. For example, B180 sets 180Mbps.
Related
HERO11 Black bitrate charts · HERO10 Black bitrates · HERO9 Black bitrates · which modes record HEVC vs H.264 · SD cards fast enough for 120Mbps · the LRV and THM files GoPros also write
Sources: GoPro HERO13 Black and HERO12 Black user manuals (Bit Rate); GoPro support articles HERO13 Black: Video Settings and Resolutions, HERO12 Black: Video Settings and Resolutions, HERO13 Black: SD Card Capacity in Various Settings, and HERO12 Black: SD Card Capacity in Each Video Setting; GoPro Labs release notes. Estimated bitrates are calculated from GoPro’s 128GB recording times and labeled as estimates.
