How Much Energy Are Your Streaming Media Players Using?

Cristian Storto/Shutterstock.com Streaming TV devices—such as a Roku or a Chromecast—are plugged in and always ready. When your TV turns off, it uses less power, but what about the streaming devices? How much energy do they use? There are a lot of different streaming devices in many shapes and sizes. Some are larger “set-top boxes,”…

Cristian Storto/Shutterstock.com

Streaming TV devices—such as a Roku or a Chromecast—are plugged in and always ready. When your TV turns off, it uses less power, but what about the streaming devices? How much energy do they use?

There are a lot of different streaming devices in many shapes and sizes. Some are larger “set-top boxes,” while others are small “streaming sticks.” The power consumption varies by device. Let’s see which ones use the most.

The Data

The world of streaming devices is vast. Most companies that make devices in this category have numerous options. We picked out a few of the most common streaming devices you might have.

The other thing to consider is what you’re doing with the device. Streaming a 4K HDR movie from Netflix will use more energy than watching a YouTube video. It would be impossible to measure every different thing you can do with a streaming device, but I tried to get a good general measurement.

I used a smart plug to measure the wattage for a Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast with…

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