Free script read-time calculator for YouTubers, podcasters, voice actors and editors. Convert a script (or word count) into MM:SS audio length using realistic pacing presets — slow narration, conversational, fast / energetic — plus optional intro/outro and breath padding.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software
Use when scripting to a target runtime — YouTube shorts (60 s), podcast intros (30 s), or audiobook chapters. Adjust pace to match your speaker's natural cadence.
Generic word-to-time tools use a fixed 130 WPM. This one lets you pick pace and add breath/intro padding for realistic estimates.
Fits a short / TikTok.
Word count is divided by the chosen words-per-minute pace to compute audio duration in seconds.
Optional padding adds 20 seconds for intro/outro music and a 5% multiplier for breaths and dramatic pauses.
Pace presets: 110 WPM (slow / horror), 140 (standard), 160 (energetic), 200 (auctioneer-fast).
Audiobooks ~150–160, conversational podcasts ~140, fast YouTube ~160–170, slow horror narration ~100–110.
Yes — words are split on whitespace, so "don't" counts as one word.
Real delivery includes breaths, dramatic pauses, emphasis, and retakes that raw word count cannot capture. Adding breath padding and intro/outro time brings the estimate closer to your actual recorded length.
Divide your word count by your chosen words-per-minute pace; for example, 1,500 words at 150 WPM is about 10 minutes. Slower narration pushes the total up, while a fast, energetic delivery brings it down.
Input
500-word script, standard pace (140 WPM), with breaths.
Output
3:45 estimated runtime.
500 / 140 × 60 = 214 seconds. The 5% breath multiplier adds ~11 seconds, landing at 3 min 45 s.
Silent reading runs around 200 words per minute. Reading aloud does not: conversational delivery sits near 150, and clear presentation delivery slower again. This tool defaults to a custom pace of 150 wpm for that reason, with presets for different deliveries.
The gap catches people out routinely. A script that takes four minutes to read on the page takes noticeably longer to perform, and a talk written to a silent-reading estimate overruns.
A raw words-per-minute figure assumes continuous speech, which no listenable delivery is. Pauses at punctuation, breaths between sentences and the deliberate silences that let a point land all add time, and on a long script they add a lot of it.
The tool models an intro allowance and a breath allowance separately for that reason. If you are timing to a hard limit — a conference slot, an ad read, a recorded segment — include them and then rehearse against a clock anyway, because delivery varies more between people than any model captures.
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