Speech time and script length calculator (words to minutes)
Paste your script or type its word count. We tell you how long it takes to say out loud, turning words to minutes at a slow, conversational or fast pace.
How many words is 1, 3, 5 and 10 minutes of speaking
| Minutes | Conversational (140) | Slow (120) | Fast (160) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 min | 140 words | 120 | 160 |
| 3 min | 420 words | 360 | 480 |
| 5 min | 700 words | 600 | 800 |
| 10 min | 1,400 words | 1,200 | 1,600 |
How the estimate works
The length is the number of words divided by the words per minute. At a conversational pace, about 140 words take a minute. It's an estimate: everyone talks at their own pace, and pauses count too.
For a closer number, read a paragraph out loud with a stopwatch, work out your words per minute and type it into the calculator.
If the video shows your screen
In a tutorial or a demo, the words aren't the only thing that takes time. Clicks, pages loading and the moments you let the screen speak for itself all add seconds. So a script for a screen recording usually needs fewer words than a voiceover over pictures.
Many people record better from a list of steps than from a full script. In Director, if you lose your place, press CtrlAltJ to pause, and the video carries on with no gap when you resume. For more on pausing, read how to pause a screen recording on Windows.