Japan Smashes Global Internet Speed Record — All of Netflix in One Second

In a major leap for global telecommunications, researchers in Japan have achieved a data-transmission speed of 1.02 petabits per second (Pbps) — fast enough, in theory, to download the entire catalog of Netflix in under a second. The result, achieved over a long distance using advanced optical-fiber technology, sets a new world record and offers a glimpse of what the future of internet connectivity could look like.

The Breakthrough: From Lab to Record Books

The milestone was achieved by researchers from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in partnership with Sumitomo Electric Industries and European collaborators. Their experiment used a special 19-core optical fiber — with the same standard cladding thickness (0.125 mm) as conventional fiber cables — but capable of carrying vastly more data by running 19 cores in parallel.

What’s more, this record-setting transmission wasn’t over a short lab link; the team sent data across 1,808 kilometers — roughly the distance between northern and southern Japan (e.g. Sapporo to Fukuoka). That means the speed is not only record-breaking but also delivered over realistic long-distance spans.

How Fast is “1.02 Petabits per Second”?

To help wrap your head around what 1.02 Pbps means: in gigabits per second (Gbps), that’s 1,020,000 Gbps. In practical terms:

The entire library of Netflix — all movies, shows and data — could theoretically be downloaded in less than one second.

The full English-language version of Wikipedia (roughly 100 GB) could be downloaded around 10,000 times in a second, according to some estimates.

Even extremely large files — such as multi-gigabyte 8K videos, huge software libraries, or petabyte-scale data sets for AI and research — could transfer near-instantaneously, at least in theory.


This kind of speed vastly outpaces typical consumer internet connections today. For reference: this result is about 3.5 million times faster than average broadband speeds in the United States, and 16 million times faster than average speeds in certain other countries.

Why This Doesn’t Mean Everyone in Japan Has Super-Fast Internet (Yet)

Before you start expecting to download entire movie libraries in a second — it’s important to understand that this was an experimental, lab-scale demonstration, not a consumer-ready service. The 1.02 Pbps transmission was carried out under controlled research conditions, using specialized multi-core fiber, state-of-the-art transmitters, amplifiers, and signal-processing hardware.

The main goal of the experiment was to prove that ultra-high bandwidth plus long-distance transmission is possible using standard-diameter fiber — meaning future upgrades could theoretically reuse existing fiber-optic infrastructure, rather than requiring entirely new cables.

Still, deploying such a system at scale — nationwide or globally — presents many challenges: the technical complexity of managing 19-core fibers at mass-market scale, cost, compatibility with existing network hardware, signal amplification over long distances, and the need for end-user equipment capable of handling such massive throughput.

What This Means for the Future of Connectivity

This breakthrough opens the door to a number of exciting possibilities — especially given how rapidly the demand for high-capacity data networks continues to grow:

Ultra-high-definition video streaming, including 8K or even future formats, with no buffering or lag — even for many users simultaneously.

Fast, massive-scale data transfers for cloud storage, backups, and data-intensive tasks (e.g., AI model training, scientific simulations, big data analytics).

More efficient global networks and inter-city/ inter-country links, potentially reducing latency and bottlenecks for long-distance data transmission.

A sustainable path to upgrade global internet infrastructure: because the fiber used is standard size, large-scale upgrades might reuse much of existing cable infrastructure — lowering costs and accelerating deployment.


As NICT puts it: this result is a “major step toward future long-distance, large-capacity optical communication systems” that can support the growing demand for data, communication, cloud services, and next-generation applications.

A Reality Check: Lab Feat ≠ Instant Upgrade

However, it’s important to temper excitement with realism. As one user on a public forum observed after news broke:

> “This was a single optical fiber line for a research. Not every network in Japan.”



In other words: while the technology is proven, it remains a proof-of-concept. There’s no guarantee users — even in Japan — will see such speeds in real-world broadband anytime soon. Real-world deployment at scale will likely take years, and require substantial investment in transmission and reception infrastructure.

Still, the achievement marks one of the most dramatic demonstrations yet of how far fiber-optic networks can be pushed. For now, it’s a powerful signal: the future of internet speed may be far closer than we imagined.