How speaking time is worked out
Speaking time is simply the number of words divided by your speaking rate in words per minute (wpm). A 300-word script takes two minutes at 150 wpm, two and a half minutes at 120 wpm and one minute forty seconds at 180 wpm.
The hard part is knowing your rate. As a rule of thumb:
- About 120 wpm, slow and deliberate: training videos, complex topics, audiences listening in a second language, or lots of planned pauses.
- About 150 wpm, natural, conversational delivery. Most podcasts, vlogs and talking-head videos land here.
- About 180 wpm, fast and energetic: ads, hype edits and quick-fire Shorts. Much faster, and listeners start to struggle to keep up.
Silent reading is quicker. A large review of reading studies put the average adult at about 238 wpm for non-fiction, which is the figure used for the reading-time estimate.
How many words fit in a time slot?
Quick budgets at 120 to 180 wpm, from slow to fast:
- 15 seconds: 30 to 45 words
- 30 seconds: 60 to 90 words
- 60 seconds: 120 to 180 words
- 3 minutes: 360 to 540 words
- 10 minutes: 1,200 to 1,800 words
For other lengths, type the time into How many words fit in…, seconds like 45, or a time like 1:30 or 2 min, and you'll get the range plus the number at your own pace.
Why your real recording may run longer
Word counts treat every word the same, but speech doesn't. A few things add time that a calculator can't see:
- Numbers and symbols.
$1,250counts as one word, but you'll say four or more. Write numbers out the way you'll speak them if timing is tight. - Pauses and beats. A dramatic pause, a laugh or a moment of B-roll adds seconds. Mark them as [stage directions] so they stay out of the word count, then leave a little slack.
- Retakes and ad-libs. Most people drift off-script a little. Aiming about 10% under the slot is a safe buffer.
The most reliable number is your own pace. Read a paragraph aloud for exactly one minute, paste what you read here, and the word count is your wpm. Set the slider to it and every estimate on the page follows.
From script to recording
Once the length is right, press Open in teleprompter to scroll the same script on screen while you record, the teleprompter sets its speed in words per minute too, so you can keep the same pace. Writing a caption or title instead of a script? The character counter checks it against each platform's limit. For long videos, plan the sections with the YouTube chapter maker.