---
title: "Script Length Calculator: Words to Minutes for YouTube | Syntale"
url: https://syntale.app/tools/script-length-calculator
---

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# Script length calculator

How long will your script run? Type a word count to get the video length, or a length to get the word count. Paste a whole script to time it paragraph by paragraph.

Speaking pace

130 wpmSlow · Calm explainers, tutorials150 wpmAverage · Most YouTube voiceovers170 wpmFast · Energetic, short-form

Words ⇄ minutes Paste a script

Words

Duration (m:ss or minutes)

1,500 words at 150 words per minute is about 10:00 (10 minutes) of video.

## How many words is a YouTube video?

Word counts for common video lengths at slow, average and fast speaking paces. A 10-minute video at an average 150 words per minute needs about 1,500 words.

| Video length | 130 wpm | 150 wpm | 170 wpm |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 minute | 130 | 150 | 170 |
| 3 minutes | 390 | 450 | 510 |
| 5 minutes | 650 | 750 | 850 |
| 8 minutes | 1,040 | 1,200 | 1,360 |
| 10 minutes | 1,300 | 1,500 | 1,700 |
| 15 minutes | 1,950 | 2,250 | 2,550 |
| 20 minutes | 2,600 | 3,000 | 3,400 |

## Which speaking pace should I pick?

Most YouTube voiceovers land around 150 words per minute. Slow down to about 130 for tutorials, explainers or anything the viewer needs to follow step by step. Energetic, short-form or heavily edited videos often run at 170 or faster once pauses are cut.

## Why is my finished video longer than the estimate?

The calculator times spoken words only. B-roll without narration, on-screen demos, music breaks and pauses all add to the final runtime, so treat the number as the length of your voiceover.

## Time every scene while you write

Syntale splits your script into scenes and shows how long each one runs, with shots and visuals attached to each. Try it free, no card needed.

[Write your script in scenes](https://syntale.app/demo)

Syntale

Write your script in scenes.

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