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Video script timer

Paste a script and find out how long it runs before you record it.

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Words
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Characters
0
Sections
0
With 15% for pauses
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This measures the words, which is all it can honestly measure. Pauses, demonstrations and B-roll are on top — a talking-head script usually runs 10 to 15% longer than the estimate, and anything with a demonstration in it considerably more.

What this does

Counts the words in a script and divides by a speaking rate to give a running time, with the rate adjustable because a fast YouTube explainer at 175 words per minute and a measured documentary voiceover at 120 are different jobs. It also breaks the script down by paragraph, so you can see which section is the one running long rather than only that the whole thing is. The usual reference points: conversational speech is around 130 to 150 words per minute, an energetic video presenter runs 150 to 180, an audiobook is read at 150 to 160, and a 60-second vertical video is about 140 to 160 words of continuous speech. Pauses, demonstrations and B-roll are on top of that.

How to estimate a video's length from its script

  1. 01

    Paste the script

    Only spoken words count. Strip stage directions and shot notes, or accept that they inflate the estimate.

  2. 02

    Set your pace

    Read a paragraph aloud, time it, and set the words per minute to what you actually did. Every estimate below is only as good as this number.

  3. 03

    Read the breakdown

    Each paragraph gets its own running time and its position in the whole. That is what tells you which section to cut.

Questions

How many words is a one-minute video?

About 140 to 160 for a normal delivery, 130 at a slower and more deliberate pace, up to 180 for a fast presenter. That is continuous speech — a minute of video with a demonstration or a pause in it holds far fewer.

How many words is a 10-minute video?

Roughly 1,400 to 1,600 at a standard pace. In practice write less: a script that fills the whole runtime leaves no room for the pauses, the visuals and the retakes that make it watchable.

How fast should I speak in a video?

Faster than feels natural on the first take, which is why the estimate should use your real measured rate rather than an average. Vertical video rewards pace; a tutorial someone is following along with rewards space.

Does this account for pauses and B-roll?

No, and it should not — it measures the script. Add the time for anything that is not speech separately. A useful rule is to add 10 to 15% to a talking-head script and considerably more to anything with a demonstration in it.

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