Speech length calculator: words to minutes

how the time is worked out

the running time is the number of spoken words divided by your speaking rate. at 150 words per minute, 300 words takes two minutes. the calculator rounds to the nearest second.

the part most calculators skip is deciding which words are spoken. a script file is full of text you never say: a title block at the top, section headings, a table of shots, a note that reads [B-roll: drone shot of the coast]. count those and a two-minute read looks like three. before counting, this calculator removes:

• frontmatter, the --- block of title and tags at the top of a file.
• markdown syntax: #, **, *, list bullets and link addresses. link text stays.
• headings, unless you tick "I read my headings aloud".
• tables, code blocks, footnotes and HTML comments.
• cues in brackets, like [cut to logo] or [B-roll: ...], and stage directions in parentheses, like (beat) or (laughs).

that is the same list Open Prompter hides from the reading view, so the words the calculator counts are the words that scroll past you. press "load an example" to see it: the file has 55 words and 30 of them are spoken.

how fast do people talk?

the National Center for Voice and Speech puts the average rate for English speakers in the United States at about 150 words per minute. audiobook narration runs close to that: ACX, Audible's production marketplace, estimates that about 9,300 words make one hour of finished audio, which is 155 words per minute.

real reads spread out around that figure. speakers vary a lot, so treat these as typical ranges rather than measurements of you. the three presets sit inside them:

• slow, roughly 110 to 130 wpm (preset 120). a talk to a room, a script with deliberate pauses, or a read in a second language.
• average, roughly 130 to 160 wpm (preset 150). a calm, conversational read to camera.
• fast, 160 wpm and up (preset 180). an energetic short-form video with no gaps between lines.

these are starting points, not rules. your own rate is the only one that predicts your own running time, and it takes a minute to measure.

find your own rate in one minute

1. take a script you have already written and paste it into the calculator above to get its word count.
2. read it out loud at your normal on-camera pace and time yourself.
3. divide the words by the minutes, or enter both in the words per minute calculator below. 420 words in 2 minutes 48 seconds (2.8 minutes) is 150 words per minute.
4. choose "custom" and enter that number, or press "time my scripts at this rate". every script after that is timed at your speed.

time the read the way you will record it: standing where you stand, talking to the lens, with the pauses you plan to keep. a quiet read at a desk measures a different speed.

words per minute calculator

this page works in both directions. the calculator at the top turns words into minutes. this one turns a timed read into a rate: enter how many words you read and how long it took, and it gives your words per minute.

words to minutes, at a glance

minutes to words, at a glance

the same sum the other way round: how many words fill a speech of a given length. a 2 minute speech is about 300 words at an average pace, and a 10 minute speech about 1,500.

for short-form video: a 60-second clip holds about 150 spoken words at an average pace, and a 30-second clip about 75. if the script runs long, cut words, not pauses.

common questions

once the length is right, read it

Open Prompter is a free teleprompter for iPhone and iPad. it reads the markdown file you already wrote, straight from a folder you pick in iCloud Drive, Obsidian or Dropbox, and it hides the same notes and cues this calculator skips. press "save as script.md", put the file in that folder, and it is on your prompter.

it can also follow your voice as you read, so the scroll keeps your pace instead of a fixed speed. no account, no watermark, no subscription, and the source is on GitHub under the MIT licence.