Words per minute to video length: a reference table
Quick answer
Multiply your words per minute by the minutes you want. At a conversational 140 words per minute, one minute holds about 140 words, five minutes about 700 and ten minutes about 1,400. Take off about a tenth for pauses. To find your own pace, time yourself reading 150 words aloud.
To plan a video you need two conversions: words to minutes and minutes to words. Both are simple arithmetic once you know your pace. This page gives the tables for three common paces, shows how to measure your own pace and explains what to subtract for pauses.
Key takeaways
- Words = words per minute x minutes. Minutes = words / words per minute.
- Three paces cover most speakers: 120 (calm), 140 (conversational) and 160 (brisk) words per minute.
- Take off about a tenth of the words for pauses, screen moments and breaths.
- Measure your own pace: read 150 words aloud with a timer and divide.
- The tables are arithmetic, not measurements. Your real pace changes with the topic, the language and how nervous you are.
How many words fit in a video?
This table shows the number of words for each length at three paces. It assumes you speak without long gaps.
| Video length | 120 words per minute | 140 words per minute | 160 words per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 seconds | 60 | 70 | 80 |
| 1 minute | 120 | 140 | 160 |
| 2 minutes | 240 | 280 | 320 |
| 3 minutes | 360 | 420 | 480 |
| 5 minutes | 600 | 700 | 800 |
| 10 minutes | 1,200 | 1,400 | 1,600 |
How long will my script run?
The same arithmetic in the other direction. Divide the word count by the pace.
| Script length | 120 words per minute | 140 words per minute | 160 words per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 words | 0:50 | 0:43 | 0:38 |
| 250 words | 2:05 | 1:47 | 1:34 |
| 500 words | 4:10 | 3:34 | 3:08 |
| 1,000 words | 8:20 | 7:09 | 6:15 |
| 1,500 words | 12:30 | 10:43 | 9:22 |
Times are minutes and seconds, rounded to the nearest second.
How do you find your own words per minute?
- Pick a passage of about 150 words in the style you will record.
- Read it aloud at your normal pace and time yourself.
- Divide the word count by the time in minutes. If 150 words take 65 seconds, your pace is about 138 words per minute.
- Repeat once relaxed and once as if you were presenting. The two numbers are often different.
The font size and speed guide turns this into a teleprompter setting.
What is a normal speaking pace?
There is no single answer, and the published figures depend on what was measured. In an MIT study of online course videos the speaking rate averaged 156 words per minute, with a standard deviation of 31, and a University of Pennsylvania analysis of recorded English telephone conversations found rates from about 111 to 291 words per minute. Use these as a range, then trust your own measurement.
How much should you subtract for pauses?
Silence uses time. If your script has many pauses, breaths or moments where the viewer is looking at something on screen, plan for about a tenth fewer words than the table says. For a three-minute video at 140 words per minute, 420 words becomes about 380.
Product demos need more room because the screen carries part of the message. The demo script guide shows a budget. Speeches need room for pauses too, as described in teleprompter for speeches.
How do you use the numbers in practice?
- Short video: a 60 second script is about 120 to 150 words. See how to write a 60-second script.
- Long video: split the words into sections of 30 to 90 seconds and record them one by one, as in recording a long script in takes.
- A fixed length: write to the table, read the draft with a timer and cut a whole sentence if you are over.
Where Telepromptia fits
Telepromptia shows the word count and reading time of your script as you write. A target length of 30, 60 or 90 seconds sets the scroll speed so the script lasts that long, and if it cannot fit, the app tells you how many words to cut. Scripts stay on your device. See the features page.
Common questions
How many words is a 1 minute video?
About 140 words at a conversational pace, or 120 to 160 words across calm to brisk speakers. Take off a little if the script has many pauses.
How many words do I need for a 5 minute video?
About 700 words at 140 words per minute, 600 at 120 and 800 at 160. Plan for roughly a tenth fewer if you pause a lot.
What is a good words per minute for a video?
Published figures vary widely: an MIT study of online course videos averaged 156 words per minute, and recorded conversations ran from about 111 to 291. Measure your own pace and choose a speed slightly slower than it for the teleprompter.
Does speaking speed change with the language?
Yes, it can change with the language, the topic and the speaker, so a table is only a starting point. Measure a passage in the language you will record.
Sources
- Guo, Kim and Rubin (2014), How video production affects student engagement: speaking rates in online course videos ranged from 48 to 254 words per minute, with a mean of 156.
- Yuan, Liberman and Cieri (2006), Towards an Integrated Understanding of Speaking Rate in Conversation (University of Pennsylvania): in large corpora of English telephone conversations, the average rate was about 196 words per minute, and individual conversations ranged from about 111 to 291.