Speech time calculator: words to minutes and back
Paste your script to see how long it takes to say. Or type the minutes and see how many words fill them. It starts at 160 words a minute, the middle of the 140 to 180 a minute that one published review gives for audiobooks and speech; change the pace to match your voice. Everything is worked out in this page, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Paste or type your text and the time to say it appears here.
Minutes like 5, or 5:30, 90s or 1:02:03. A bare number is minutes.
5 min is 800 words at 160 a minute, 700 at 140 and 900 at 180.
Your own pace
Type the words you said and the time it took, such as 300 words in 2:05.
Recorded it? Add the captions
Drop the video in Burncaps. It listens, writes every word as a script, and burns word-by-word captions into the video, in your browser. The video never leaves your browser.
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
The numbers below use 160 words a minute, the middle of the 140 to 180 range in the review cited further down. Multiply the minutes by your own pace for your number.
How many words is a 3 minute speech?
About 480 words. The working: 3 minutes × 160 words a minute = 480 words. At 140 a minute it is 420 words, and at 180 it is 540.
How many words is a 5 minute speech?
About 800 words. The working: 5 minutes × 160 words a minute = 800 words. At 140 a minute it is 700 words, and at 180 it is 900.
How many words is a 10 minute speech?
About 1,600 words. The working: 10 minutes × 160 words a minute = 1,600 words. At 140 a minute it is 1,400 words, and at 180 it is 1,800.
How many words is a 15 minute speech?
About 2,400 words. The working: 15 minutes × 160 words a minute = 2,400 words. At 140 a minute it is 2,100 words, and at 180 it is 2,700.
The full table for 1 to 60 minutes is further down this page.
How many words for a 30 second or 60 second video?
For a script you will read to camera, about 80 words fill 30 seconds and about 160 fill 60 seconds, at 160 a minute. Across the 140 to 180 range that is 70 to 90 words and 140 to 180 words.
| Video length | Slow, 140 a minute | Steady, 160 a minute | Fast, 180 a minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 s | 35 | 40 | 45 |
| 30 s | 70 | 80 | 90 |
| 45 s | 105 | 120 | 135 |
| 1 min | 140 | 160 | 180 |
| 1 min 30 s | 210 | 240 | 270 |
| 2 min | 280 | 320 | 360 |
| 3 min | 420 | 480 | 540 |
Three minutes is the longest a YouTube Short can be; video length limits has the limit on every platform, each from its own help page.
Reading aloud and reading silently
The same review found that adults read English aloud at 183 words a minute on average, from 77 studies, and silently at 238 for non-fiction and 260 for fiction, from 190 studies. Reading a script aloud is the closest of these to presenting from one.
What that means for 1,000 words
Read aloud at 183 a minute, 1,000 words takes 5 min 28 s. Read silently at 238 a minute, it takes 4 min 12 s. The calculator above shows both for your own text, beside the time at the pace you chose.
What pace should I use?
140 to 180 words a minute: the review says audiobooks are spoken at this rate and that other estimates of speech rate are of similar magnitude. This page starts at 160, the middle, which is our choice and not a figure from the review.
183 words a minute: the review’s average for reading aloud, across 77 studies and 5,965 participants.
170 to 190 words a minute: the review reports one study that found the ideal rate for radio news to be 170 for messages dense with information and 190 for lighter ones.
Your own: the only pace that is exactly yours. Time yourself, as below, and type it in.
The source: Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047, read in full on 3 November 2026. Its figures are for English. The review says other languages need more or fewer words for the same message, so a word count means something different there.
How to find your own pace
- Choose about 300 words of your script and count them with the box above.
- Start a timer and say them at the pace you would use for the camera, then stop at the last word.
- Type the number of words and the time into Your own pace, such as 300 words in 2:05.
- Press Use this pace. Every time on this page now uses it.
How the count works
A word is anything between spaces that holds a letter or a number: “well-known” is one word, “2026” is one, and a lone dash or bullet point is none, which is how a word processor counts. The calculator divides the words by the pace, so it adds no time for pauses, slides or a demonstration: add those yourself. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Lao, Khmer and Burmese are written without spaces between words, so a count of words is not reliable for them.
Words to minutes: the 1 to 60 minute table
| Minutes | Slow, 140 a minute | Steady, 160 a minute | Fast, 180 a minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 140 | 160 | 180 |
| 2 | 280 | 320 | 360 |
| 3 | 420 | 480 | 540 |
| 4 | 560 | 640 | 720 |
| 5 | 700 | 800 | 900 |
| 6 | 840 | 960 | 1,080 |
| 7 | 980 | 1,120 | 1,260 |
| 8 | 1,120 | 1,280 | 1,440 |
| 9 | 1,260 | 1,440 | 1,620 |
| 10 | 1,400 | 1,600 | 1,800 |
| 11 | 1,540 | 1,760 | 1,980 |
| 12 | 1,680 | 1,920 | 2,160 |
| 13 | 1,820 | 2,080 | 2,340 |
| 14 | 1,960 | 2,240 | 2,520 |
| 15 | 2,100 | 2,400 | 2,700 |
| 16 | 2,240 | 2,560 | 2,880 |
| 17 | 2,380 | 2,720 | 3,060 |
| 18 | 2,520 | 2,880 | 3,240 |
| 19 | 2,660 | 3,040 | 3,420 |
| 20 | 2,800 | 3,200 | 3,600 |
| 21 | 2,940 | 3,360 | 3,780 |
| 22 | 3,080 | 3,520 | 3,960 |
| 23 | 3,220 | 3,680 | 4,140 |
| 24 | 3,360 | 3,840 | 4,320 |
| 25 | 3,500 | 4,000 | 4,500 |
| 26 | 3,640 | 4,160 | 4,680 |
| 27 | 3,780 | 4,320 | 4,860 |
| 28 | 3,920 | 4,480 | 5,040 |
| 29 | 4,060 | 4,640 | 5,220 |
| 30 | 4,200 | 4,800 | 5,400 |
| 31 | 4,340 | 4,960 | 5,580 |
| 32 | 4,480 | 5,120 | 5,760 |
| 33 | 4,620 | 5,280 | 5,940 |
| 34 | 4,760 | 5,440 | 6,120 |
| 35 | 4,900 | 5,600 | 6,300 |
| 36 | 5,040 | 5,760 | 6,480 |
| 37 | 5,180 | 5,920 | 6,660 |
| 38 | 5,320 | 6,080 | 6,840 |
| 39 | 5,460 | 6,240 | 7,020 |
| 40 | 5,600 | 6,400 | 7,200 |
| 41 | 5,740 | 6,560 | 7,380 |
| 42 | 5,880 | 6,720 | 7,560 |
| 43 | 6,020 | 6,880 | 7,740 |
| 44 | 6,160 | 7,040 | 7,920 |
| 45 | 6,300 | 7,200 | 8,100 |
| 46 | 6,440 | 7,360 | 8,280 |
| 47 | 6,580 | 7,520 | 8,460 |
| 48 | 6,720 | 7,680 | 8,640 |
| 49 | 6,860 | 7,840 | 8,820 |
| 50 | 7,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 |
| 51 | 7,140 | 8,160 | 9,180 |
| 52 | 7,280 | 8,320 | 9,360 |
| 53 | 7,420 | 8,480 | 9,540 |
| 54 | 7,560 | 8,640 | 9,720 |
| 55 | 7,700 | 8,800 | 9,900 |
| 56 | 7,840 | 8,960 | 10,080 |
| 57 | 7,980 | 9,120 | 10,260 |
| 58 | 8,120 | 9,280 | 10,440 |
| 59 | 8,260 | 9,440 | 10,620 |
| 60 | 8,400 | 9,600 | 10,800 |
Then record it, and caption it
A script is the start. Once you have recorded it, Burncaps writes every word of the recording as a script you can correct, then burns word-by-word captions into the video in 60 styles, or finds the clips in a longer talk: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, so a 10 minute talk gives about five. Each free video exports up to 3 clips, and Captions + Clips exports every clip, unlimited.
What it costs
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Questions, answered plainly
How long does it take to say 1,000 words?
At 160 words a minute, 1,000 words takes 6 min 15 s to say. At 140 a minute it takes 7 min 9 s, and at 180 it takes 5 min 33 s.
How many words is a 5 minute speech?
About 800 words at 160 words a minute, the middle of the 140 to 180 range, which is 700 to 900 words. Multiply the minutes by your own pace to get your number.
How many words do I need for a 60 second video?
About 160 words at 160 words a minute, or 140 to 180 across the 140 to 180 range. For 30 seconds, about 80 words, or 70 to 90.
What is a normal speaking speed?
A published review of reading rates (Brysbaert, 2019, Journal of Memory and Language) says audiobooks are spoken at 140 to 180 words a minute and that other estimates of speech rate are of similar magnitude. This calculator starts at 160, the middle of that range. Your own pace can differ, so time yourself and type it in.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words aloud, or silently?
At the review's average of 183 words a minute for reading aloud, 1,000 words takes 5 min 28 s. At its average of 238 for silent reading of non-fiction, it takes 4 min 12 s. Both are averages for adults reading English.
How does the calculator count words?
A word is anything between spaces that holds a letter or a number. 'Well-known' is one word, '2026' is one, and a lone dash or bullet point is none, which is how a word processor counts.
Does it work for languages other than English?
The paces are for English. The review says other languages need more or fewer words to say the same thing, so a count of words means something different there. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Lao, Khmer and Burmese are written without spaces between words, so a count of words is not reliable for them.
Is the text I paste sent anywhere?
No. The calculator works in this page, on your own device, and the text is never sent anywhere, which you can see in your browser’s network tab on a computer: paste some text and no request is made. The page sends only anonymous step counts, such as that the page was opened, never the text (see the privacy policy).
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.