This script timer converts the words in a script into speaking time. Paste a video script, a voice-over, a speech or a podcast intro, pick a pace, press Time it, and the page returns the word count, the time at that pace, a table of the same script at every common pace and a per-paragraph breakdown with a running total, which is what you need when a section has to land on a cut or a slide. Every pace states the words per minute it uses and where the figure comes from, and because a preset is only a guess about how fast you talk, the second box lets you time yourself reading a passage aloud and apply your own pace instead. The third box works backwards: how many words fit the five minutes you are aiming for.
How to use the script timer
- Paste the script. One paragraph per line gives you a per-paragraph timing. Text in square brackets, such as
[B-ROLL: drone shot] or [pause], is skipped so stage directions do not count as spoken words; untick the box to count them.
- Pick the pace. Slow narration at 120 words per minute, conversational at 150, audiobook at 155, the measured read-aloud average of 183, fast at 200, silent reading at 238, or Custom for your own figure. If you will pause between paragraphs for a cut or a slide, enter the seconds per pause and they are added.
- Read the timing. The main figure is the time at the pace you chose; the table shows the script at every other pace so you can see how much a faster or slower delivery moves it, and the paragraph table shows where each minute mark falls. Copy the result puts a text summary on your clipboard for the brief or the shot list.
- Measure instead of guessing. In the second box, press Start, read the sample passage (or your own script) aloud at your real on-camera speed, press Stop, then Use this pace. The timer then applies your measured words per minute to any script you paste.
Where the paces come from
Words-to-minutes tools usually assume a single speaking rate and leave it unnamed. The presets here state theirs, and three of them are measured figures rather than this page's choices.
| Pace | Words per minute | Basis |
|---|
| Slow, deliberate narration | 120 | This page's setting for a slow, emphatic delivery; presentations to a room are usually quoted in a 100 to 150 range |
| Conversational | 150 | The often-cited figure for US English conversation from the National Center for Voice and Speech |
| Audiobook narration | 155 | ACX, Audible's production marketplace: "most performers narrate about 9,300 words per hour", and 9,300 ÷ 60 = 155 |
| Reading aloud, measured average | 183 | Brysbaert (2019), How many words do we read per minute?, a meta-analysis: oral reading averaged 183 wpm across 77 studies and 5,965 participants |
| Fast, energetic delivery | 200 | This page's setting for a brisk, edited talking-head or trailer voice; use the timer to check whether you really speak that fast |
| Silent reading | 238 | The same meta-analysis: adults read non-fiction silently at 238 wpm on average (190 studies, 17,887 participants); fiction 260 |
Two of those labels deserve a caution. Reading a text aloud is not the same as speaking to a camera: the 183 figure comes from people reading prose in studies, and presenters who have rehearsed a script tend to add pauses, emphasis and asides that the words alone do not show. And no measured average exists for "YouTubers" as a group, so this page does not offer one. If you need the real number for your own voice, measure it.
How many words fit a given length
Multiply the pace by the minutes. The table gives the word budget for the usual video and speech lengths at a slow, a conversational and a fast pace; the reverse box above does the same for any length and any pace, including a measured one.
| Length | At 130 wpm | At 150 wpm | At 180 wpm |
|---|
| 30 seconds | 65 words | 75 words | 90 words |
| 1 minute | 130 | 150 | 180 |
| 2 minutes | 260 | 300 | 360 |
| 3 minutes | 390 | 450 | 540 |
| 5 minutes | 650 | 750 | 900 |
| 8 minutes | 1,040 | 1,200 | 1,440 |
| 10 minutes | 1,300 | 1,500 | 1,800 |
| 15 minutes | 1,950 | 2,250 | 2,700 |
| 20 minutes | 2,600 | 3,000 | 3,600 |
| 30 minutes | 3,900 | 4,500 | 5,400 |
| 60 minutes | 7,800 | 9,000 | 10,800 |
Timing a video script
A talking-head video script is spoken faster than a speech and slower than it reads silently, and the total is rarely the words alone. Three things move it. Pauses for cuts, b-roll and on-screen text add seconds the script does not show; the Pause between paragraphs field lets you add a fixed allowance per paragraph break, which is a fair model for a script written one shot per line. Demonstrations, reactions and reading something on screen add time with no words at all; write a bracketed note with the seconds, for example [demo, 20 s], so it is visible in the script, and add it to the result by hand. And the delivery pace itself is the biggest unknown: between 130 and 180 words per minute the same 1,500-word script runs from 8:20 to 11:32, so measure yours once with the second box and the rest of the estimates fall into place. Once the video exists, the playback speed calculator answers the viewer's side of the question: how long it takes them at 1.5x or 2x.
Speeches, presentations and voice-overs
Speakers in front of an audience run slower than the conversational figure, commonly quoted in the 100 to 150 range, because they pause for emphasis and for the room; plan a 10-minute speech at 1,200 to 1,400 words and rehearse with a stopwatch. Voice-over for an explainer or an advert is paced to the picture, so the per-paragraph table matters more than the total: write one line per shot, and the running total tells you where each line lands. Audiobook narration is the one case with an industry figure, ACX's 9,300 words per finished hour, which is why the Audiobook preset is 155 and a 90,000-word manuscript estimates at about 9 hours 41 minutes.
What counts as a word
The counter splits the text on spaces and line breaks and counts every piece that contains at least one letter or digit. A number is a word, a hyphenated word is one word, a timestamp like 0:45 is one word and an emoji or a stray dash on its own is not. Square-bracketed text is removed before counting unless you untick the option; parentheses are left in, since scripts often use them for spoken asides. Paragraphs are separated by line breaks, so a script written one sentence per line shows one row per sentence. Characters are counted with and without spaces for the platforms that cap descriptions or captions by characters rather than words.
What the script timer does not do
It does not listen to you or analyse audio; the measured pace comes from a stopwatch you start and stop. It does not know your delivery, so a preset is an estimate with a stated basis, not a prediction. It does not count time with no words: demonstrations, music, title cards, laughter. And it does not store the script anywhere; the text stays in your browser and is gone when you close the tab.
Frequently asked questions
How many words are in a 5-minute video script?
About 750 words at a conversational 150 words per minute, 650 at a slower 130, and 900 at a brisk 180. The figure is the pace multiplied by the minutes, so the pace matters more than any rule of thumb: a presenter who speaks at 180 words per minute fits 20% more script into the same five minutes than one who speaks at 150.
How many words per minute do YouTubers speak?
There is no measured average for YouTube as a whole, and this page does not invent one. The often-cited figure for US English conversation is about 150 words per minute (National Center for Voice and Speech), audiobook narrators average about 155 (ACX's 9,300 words per finished hour), and the measured average for adults reading a text aloud is 183 (Brysbaert, 2019). Fast, edited talking-head videos run above conversational pace; the honest way to time your own script is to read it aloud with the timer on this page and use the pace it measures.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words aloud?
6 minutes 40 seconds at 150 words per minute, 5 minutes 28 seconds at the 183 words per minute measured average for reading aloud, and 4 minutes 12 seconds read silently at 238 words per minute. A slow, deliberate narration at 120 words per minute takes 8 minutes 20 seconds.
How many words is a 10-minute speech?
1,300 words at 130 words per minute, 1,500 at 150, 1,800 at 180. Speeches to a room usually run slower than conversation, in the 100 to 150 range, because of pauses, emphasis and audience reaction, so plan a 10-minute speech at 1,200 to 1,400 words and time a rehearsal rather than trusting the estimate.
Does the script timer count stage directions, numbers and hyphenated words?
Text inside square brackets, such as [B-ROLL: city at night] or [pause], is skipped by default; untick the option to count it. Anything else separated by spaces that contains a letter or a digit counts as one word, so a number is a word, a hyphenated word is one word and a timestamp like 0:45 is one word. Punctuation on its own is not counted.
How accurate is a words-to-minutes estimate?
Only as accurate as the pace you pick. Real speakers range from about 100 to over 200 words per minute, so a preset can be 20% or more off for a given person. The estimate also ignores pauses, laughter, on-screen demonstrations and anything you say that is not in the script. For a real figure, time yourself reading the script aloud with the timer on this page; the measured pace then applies to any script you paste.
How many words per finished hour does an audiobook narrator read?
About 9,300 words per finished hour, the figure ACX (Audible's production marketplace) gives for estimating an audiobook's length from a manuscript's word count. That is 155 words per minute, which is the Audiobook pace on this page. A 90,000-word novel therefore runs about 9 hours 41 minutes.
