Video script timer
Paste a script, pick a speaking pace, and see how long it runs when spoken, plus the word budget for 15, 30, 60, and 90 second videos.
Getting the pace right
- Read your script out loud once and time it before trusting any calculator, including this one. Your natural rate is personal; the paces here bracket the common range so you can find yours.
- The hook runs faster than the body in most strong short-form videos: the first line lands quick, then the delivery settles. If your hook is a quarter of the script, lean toward the faster estimate.
- Editing changes the math more than delivery does. Cutting the silence between sentences, standard in short-form, compresses a 150 wpm read into 170-plus effective wpm.
- Word budgets discipline the writing: if the 60-second row says you are 40 words over, the fix is deleting a tangent, not talking faster.
Frequently asked questions
How many words is a 60-second video script?
Around 150 words at a conversational pace of 150 words per minute. A deliberate, tutorial-style delivery at 110 wpm fits about 110 words, and a fast energetic read at 180 wpm fits about 180. Paste your script above and the table shows the fit at whichever pace you pick.
How fast do people talk in short-form videos?
Conversational speech runs roughly 130 to 160 words per minute, which is why 150 is the default here. Short-form creators often push toward 170 to 180 with tight edits that cut the gaps between sentences. If you script at your natural pace and then edit out pauses, your real rate lands higher than your speaking rate.
Why does my recorded video run longer than this estimate?
Because words are not the only thing on the clock: pauses for emphasis, b-roll moments, on-screen text you hold for reading, and breathing room around the hook all add seconds the word count cannot see. Treat the estimate as the floor and a script that fits exactly as slightly over.
How many words should a 30-second script be?
About 75 at conversational pace, 55 if you speak deliberately, 90 at a fast clip. Thirty seconds is less writing than most people expect, which is the useful discipline: it forces one idea per video.
Does this work for podcasts and voiceovers too?
Yes, the arithmetic is the same. Narration for voiceover tends to sit slower, around 140 to 150 wpm, and audiobook-style reads slower still, so pick the deliberate pace for those and the estimate lands close.
The script is 60 seconds. The posting is the other job.
posthell publishes your video posts to 15 networks on schedule, tailors each caption to the network's conventions, and shows which post actually grew your following. Write once, time it here, ship it everywhere.