How Many Records Fit in a Crate?
Anywhere from 50 to well over 100, depending on the crate and your sleeves. Here is how to work out the number for your own collection rather than trusting a figure online.
By Zachary Medeiros, Groove Crate. . 4 min read.
The honest answer is that it depends on two things: how deep the crate is, and how thick your records are. Both vary more than people expect, which is why you see wildly different numbers quoted.
The quick answer
A crate with a 13 inch interior depth, which is about right for 12-inch sleeves, holds roughly 80 to 100 records. That is the published capacity of a Groove Crate and it is a reasonable rule of thumb for any similarly sized crate.
Shallower crates hold proportionally fewer. A 10 inch usable depth holds roughly 60 to 77 on the same basis.
Why the range is so wide
Records are not a standard thickness once they are in sleeves. Working from a 13 inch depth holding 80 to 100 records, each record with its packaging occupies somewhere between about 3.3 and 4.1 millimetres. What pushes you towards one end or the other:
- Standard single LPs in paper or poly inner sleeves sit at the thin end. A crate of these gets close to 100.
- Gatefolds are effectively two jackets. A collection heavy on gatefolds drops well below 80.
- Heavyweight 180 gram reissues often come in thicker card jackets, which adds up quickly.
- Outer sleeves add a small amount per record, which across 90 records is several inches.
- Box sets break the maths entirely. Count them separately.
A collection of recent audiophile reissues and a collection of 1970s pressings can differ by 25 percent or more in the same crate.
Work out your own number
Two minutes with a ruler beats any figure you read online:
- Stand 20 records upright, squeezed together but not compressed.
- Measure the depth they occupy in inches.
- Divide 20 by that measurement to get records per inch.
- Multiply by the usable interior depth of your crate.
Most collections land between six and eight records per inch. If you get eight, your records are on the thin side and a 13 inch crate will hold about 100. If you get six, expect closer to 78.
Do not fill a crate to its maximum
Capacity and comfortable capacity are different numbers. A crate packed to its absolute limit is one where:
- Sleeves scuff against each other every time you pull a record out.
- You end up bracing the row with one hand and pulling hard with the other.
- There is nowhere for the next record to go.
Plan at about 85 records per crate rather than 100. It leaves finger room, keeps browsing pleasant, and absorbs the next few months of buying. That is the figure the collection size calculator uses.
What a Groove Crate holds
A Groove Crate has a 13 inch square interior, 13.5 inches deep, and holds approximately 80 to 100 records. Pack sizes work out to roughly:
| Pack | Crates | Approximate capacity | Comfortable capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Pack | 3 | 240 to 300 records | about 255 |
| 5-Pack | 5 | 400 to 500 records | about 425 |
| 10-Pack | 10 | 800 to 1,000 records | about 850 |
The "comfortable capacity" column is the 85 per crate planning figure, and it is the one worth using when deciding what to buy.
Capacity by container depth
Using the six to eight records per inch range, here is roughly what different usable depths hold:
| Usable interior depth | Thick sleeves (6 per inch) | Thin sleeves (8 per inch) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 in | About 60 | About 80 |
| 12 in | About 72 | About 96 |
| 13 in (Groove Crate) | About 78 | About 104 |
| 15 in | About 90 | About 120 |
| 24 in | About 144 | About 192 |
The 24 inch row is there as a warning as much as a reference. A container that deep holds a lot, but it is heavy enough when full that most people cannot lift it safely, and reaching records at the back means pulling everything in front of them out first. Crate-sized sections exist because they are the largest chunk one person can comfortably carry.
What about shelving?
The same maths applies to a shelf, measured along the run rather than into a crate. A cube opening close to 13 inches wide holds roughly what a crate holds, which is why cube units and crates come out at similar capacities per section.
On an open shelf, the limit is usually leaning rather than space. A four-foot run will physically hold close to 300 records, but only if it is full or divided. Half-filled, the records lean, and leaning is what slowly bends them.
Milk crates specifically
Milk crate dimensions vary by dairy, region and era, so there is no single answer. That question has its own article: how many records fit in a milk crate.
Next steps
If you know roughly how many records you own, the collection size guides work through the layout as well as the capacity: 300 records, 500 records and 1,000 records.