Best Cable for CCTV Cameras: Cat5e or Cat6?

types of cables — 8 min read10 November 2026

For an IP camera, buy solid copper Cat5e. Cat6 is fine too, and on long PoE runs it is slightly better, but it won’t make the picture any sharper. What actually causes trouble on CCTV jobs is cheap aluminium cable and indoor cable run outside. Both are easy to avoid once you know what to look for on the box.

IP cameras: Cat5e or Cat6, solid pure copper
Longest run: 100 metres, patch leads included
Outside: External cable with a black PE sheath
Avoid: CCA (copper-clad aluminium)

Which cable does your camera use?

Look at the back of the camera. An RJ45 plug, the same as on a laptop or router, means it is an IP camera and wants network cable. It probably takes its power down that cable as well, which is called PoE.

A round BNC plug and a small DC power plug mean it is analogue, and that includes the HD ranges from Hikvision and Dahua. Those were designed for coax. RG59 with a power pair bonded alongside it, often called shotgun or siamese cable, is the usual choice, and our guide to analogue HD CCTV covers that side in more detail. The rest of this page is about network cable.

Not sure which way to go on a new system? IP vs analogue HD CCTV sets the two side by side.

Cat5e or Cat6 for CCTV?

Cat5e. It’s enough for any camera, and it’s cheaper.

The numbers explain why. A 4K camera recording H.265 sends somewhere between 4 and 16 Mbps. Cat5e carries 1,000 Mbps over the full 100 metres. Most PoE recorders and switches have 100 Mbps camera ports anyway, so a camera on Cat6 talks to the recorder at exactly the same speed as one on Cat5e.

Cable	Speed over 100 m	Typical conductor	For CCTV
Cat5	100 Mbps	24 AWG	Old stock only. Works, but don’t buy it new
Cat5e	1 Gbps	24 AWG	The default for camera runs
Cat6	1 Gbps (10 Gbps up to about 55 m)	23 AWG	Long PoE runs and links between switches

Where Cat6 does earn its price is power. Its conductors are usually a gauge thicker, so they have less resistance, which means a little more of the PoE power arrives at a camera on a long run, and a bundle of cables runs a little cooler. If you are pulling 80 metres to a PTZ with a heater, or feeding a gate camera off a switch at the far end of a yard, spend the extra. For eight turrets round a house, don’t.

Already have Cat5e in the walls? Use it. Swapping good Cat5e for Cat6 changes nothing you will see on the recorder.

Pure copper, never CCA

This matters more than the category on the label.

CCA stands for copper-clad aluminium: an aluminium core with a thin copper skin. It is cheaper, and online it is often sold as “Cat6” at a price that looks too good. The trouble starts when you put PoE through it. Aluminium has about half as much resistance again as copper, so the cable warms up under load and the camera at the far end gets less power. Bundled through a loft with insulation over the top, it is a fire risk. The cabling standards behind Ethernet don’t allow CCA at all, so a box that says CCA is not really Cat5e or Cat6, whatever is printed on it.

Two quick checks. Scrape a conductor with a knife: copper stays copper colour, CCA shows silver underneath. And weigh the box in your hand. A 305 metre box of solid copper Cat6 is heavy. A CCA one feels suspiciously light.

Our guide to PoE for CCTV goes further into power budgets and why a busy PoE switch can still run short.

Indoor or outdoor cable

Indoor cable usually has an LSZH sheath, short for low smoke zero halogen. It gives off less smoke and no acid gas if it burns, which is why it belongs inside buildings. It is not made for sunlight or rain. Run it along an outside wall and the sheath can go brittle and split in the sun.

External cable has a black polyethylene (PE) sheath that shrugs off UV and water. Use it for any length that is outside, even a short hop across a wall to a camera. It is also the right cable for ducting under a drive or lawn. Lay it in proper duct rather than straight in the soil, so you can pull a new one through if a run ever fails.

A common way to do it: external cable from the camera into the building, then carry on with the same cable to the recorder. One cable all the way, with no joint to fail in a damp loft.

Solid or stranded

Solid core cable has one thick wire per conductor and is made for fixed runs. It is what goes into the back of a punch-down patch panel or a wall socket. Buy solid for anything that stays put.

Stranded cable has bundles of fine wires, so it bends without breaking. That makes it right for patch leads in the cabinet, where cables get moved about. It loses more over distance, so keep it short.

Shielded or unshielded

Unshielded cable (UTP) is what almost every CCTV system uses, and it’s what we’d fit. The twisting of the pairs does the work of keeping interference out.

Shielded cable (FTP or STP) has foil or braid around the pairs. It helps where a cable runs for a long way beside motors or high-current power cables. The shield only works when it is connected through shielded plugs to an earthed switch or patch panel, which most camera installs don’t have. Shielded cable is also dearer and harder to trace with a cable toner. On a house or a shop, it adds cost and effort for nothing.

If you must run network cable alongside mains, keep a gap between them and cross at right angles. That fixes most interference problems before shielding is even a question.

Network cable for analogue HD cameras

It can be done. An HD video balun at each end turns one pair of a network cable into a video link, and the spare pairs can carry the camera’s 12V power over short distances. It is a good fix when there is already Cat5e in the wall and no way to get coax through.

On a new install, we wouldn’t. Coax was what these cameras were designed for, and it carries analogue HD further, with less to go wrong. If you’re pulling new cable anyway, it is usually worth asking whether IP cameras would suit the job better. The cable is the same price, and the cameras get power and video down one cable.

For the plugs on the ends, from RJ45 to BNC, see CCTV connectors explained.

Frequently asked questions

How far can I run network cable to a CCTV camera?

100 metres from the recorder or switch to the camera, and that includes the patch leads at both ends. Past that, fit a PoE extender partway along the run, or move the switch closer to the cameras.

What is the best cable for CCTV cameras?

For IP cameras, solid copper Cat5e, with an external PE sheath wherever it runs outside. For analogue HD cameras, RG59 coax with a power pair alongside it. Avoid anything labelled CCA, whatever category it claims to be.

Is Cat6 better for 4K cameras?

Not for the picture. A 4K camera uses a small fraction of what Cat5e can carry, and most PoE recorders have 100 Mbps camera ports. Cat6 helps a little with PoE on long runs, because its thicker conductors lose less power.

Can I use Cat6 with a recorder that has 100 Mbps ports?

Yes. Cat6 and Cat5e both work at whatever speed the port runs at. Nothing needs setting up.

Can I mix Cat5e and Cat6 on one system?

Yes. Each camera has its own run back to the recorder, so a Cat5e camera and a Cat6 camera don’t affect each other. On a single run, the link works at the level of the weaker cable, which for a camera is still plenty.

Can I bury network cable?

Use external cable with a PE sheath and lay it in duct. Indoor LSZH cable will fail underground, and even external cable lasts longer and can be replaced when it sits in a duct rather than straight in the soil.

Can I join two network cables together?

An inline RJ45 coupler joins two plugged ends, and the total length still has to stay inside 100 metres. Outdoors, put the joint inside a junction box or a sealed enclosure, because a coupler left in the open lets water into both cables. A single unbroken run is always better.