There is no reliable single bill estimate without knowing your NUC’s average power draw at the wall and your electricity rate. Use average watts × 8.76 = annual kWh, then multiply by your local price per kWh. At the U.S. 2025 residential average of 17.30 cents/kWh, a system averaging 10 W would cost about $15.15 a year, or $1.26 per month averaged across the year. That is a calculation, not a measured FFmpeg test.
Calculate your NUC’s 24/7 electricity cost
A device averaging one watt continuously uses 8.76 kWh in a year: 1 W Ă— 8,760 hours Ă· 1,000. For an average draw of W watts and a rate of R per kWh:
- Annual energy: W Ă— 8.76 kWh
- Annual cost: W Ă— 8.76 Ă— R
- Average monthly cost: annual cost Ă· 12
For a particular calendar month, calculate using that month’s actual hours rather than the annualized monthly figure. Use the rate on your electricity bill; if your bill has variable energy charges, include the relevant charges in the per-kWh figure.
Illustrative costs at the U.S. 2025 residential average
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 2025 U.S. residential average of 17.30 cents/kWh. The following figures apply that rate to example average wall draws; the wattages are scenarios, not measurements of a NUC running FFmpeg.
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| Average wall draw | Energy per year | Approx. cost per year | Approx. monthly average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 W | 43.8 kWh | $7.58 | $0.63 |
| 10 W | 87.6 kWh | $15.15 | $1.26 |
| 20 W | 175.2 kWh | $30.31 | $2.53 |
| 40 W | 350.4 kWh | $60.62 | $5.05 |
Electricity prices differ substantially by location. The EIA’s 2025 state averages ranged from 8.20 cents/kWh in North Dakota to 35.72 cents/kWh in Hawaii; that range is across all utility customer classes, not residential-only. The national residential average is a dated benchmark, not a universal or necessarily current tariff. Check the EIA’s electricity data and use your own bill rate for a personal estimate.
Why a NUC’s advertised wattage does not give the answer
Processor TDP and the wattage printed on a power adapter are not measurements of the complete computer’s average AC draw. Intel says, “Power consumption is less than TDP under lower loads.” It describes TDP as a design target; turbo operation or certain workloads can exceed it temporarily. Actual wall consumption depends on the NUC configuration and workload.
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Published measurements illustrate why one model’s idle result cannot stand in for another machine encoding video:
- A Notebookcheck review reported desktop idle draw of 3–7 W for its NUC8i7BEH configuration.
- ServeTheHome measured about 11 W at idle and 40 W at 70% load for its NUC11 Pro configuration.
- ServeTheHome reported 6–10 W at idle for a NUC12 Pro configuration.
These are model- and test-specific observations, not matched FFmpeg encoding results. The exact NUC, memory, storage, firmware and operating system settings, codec, resolution, frame rate, hardware-acceleration choice, and whether the machine idles between jobs all affect the result. No single FFmpeg wattage can be inferred for an unspecified setup.
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Intel also describes model-dependent power-management options such as balanced, low-power, and maximum-performance modes, with sustained and burst package-power controls. Those settings can change both power use and performance; consult the documentation for your particular NUC before changing them.
Measure the actual FFmpeg setup
The most useful estimate comes from measuring the whole system at the wall while it does the work you intend to run. A plug-in energy meter can report watts or accumulated kWh. Include the normal power supply, storage, and any peripherals that will stay connected.
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- Set up the normal system. Connect the NUC and the storage or peripherals that will remain in use through the meter.
- Run a representative FFmpeg job. Match the intended input, output codec, resolution, frame rate, and hardware-acceleration settings. A brief light test may not represent a sustained encode.
- Record average watts or cumulative kWh. Measure over a representative period. For continuous encoding, use the sustained workload average. If encoding is intermittent, include both encoding and idle periods in a weighted average.
- Apply your rate. Multiply measured kWh by the relevant per-kWh rate from your bill. If you measured average watts over a representative period, use the formula above to annualize it.
A CPU-only telemetry reading may omit other components and conversion losses in the power supply, so it is not necessarily the same as whole-system AC consumption at the wall. If comparing two NUCs, measure them with the same FFmpeg job and settings, and compare encoding time as well as watts; a lower draw alone does not show how much work each system completes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Include workload and uptime in the estimate
“24/7” can mean the NUC is powered on continuously, or that it is encoding continuously. Those are different workloads. If FFmpeg runs only for part of each day, use the average across the full operating cycle, including idle time, rather than applying a peak encoding draw to every hour. If the NUC is genuinely encoding around the clock, measure sustained encoding power under the intended settings.
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For a straightforward comparison, keep the assumptions consistent: average wall watts during the same FFmpeg job, idle watts between jobs, throughput for the same output settings, duty cycle, and local tariff. The electricity estimate is only one part of the decision; slower processing may affect whether a particular setup can maintain the intended stream.
Keep a YouTube stream running without leaving a NUC on
If your aim is to keep uploaded recordings playing as a 24/7 YouTube live stream, FFmpeg on a NUC is one DIY route, but the computer and its power connection must remain available. For a cloud-hosted option, StreamNeo keeps a YouTube channel live from uploaded videos: upload a recording or build a playlist, add the YouTube stream key once, and go live. It loops the videos from the cloud, so your computer and home connection do not need to stay on.
StreamNeo runs continuously from the cloud, streams uploaded video as made up to 4K 60fps at one flat price per slot, and automatically recovers if YouTube drops the stream. The first day is free with no card. Monthly: $9.99 per month. Every slot includes one always-on stream, 10 GB storage per slot pooled across active slots, looping and playlists, and support from the StreamNeo team. StreamNeo is for YouTube and plays uploaded videos; it does not stream from a camera. Start the free first day.
Quick Recap
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