Speech Time Calculator

Conversational speech runs around 140 words per minute. TV presenters and podcasters speak slightly faster at 150-160 wpm. Audiobook narration is slower at 110-120 wpm. Short-form video creators (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts) often hit 180+ wpm to fit more value into a 30-60 second clip.

Divide the word count by your speaking rate per minute. So a 1,500-word script at 150 wpm = 10 minutes. Our calculator does the math automatically for five named speaking rates and surfaces all five durations side-by-side so you can compare.

It depends on your target duration. At a conversational 140 wpm, a 60-second video needs ~140 words, a 5-minute video needs ~700 words, and a 10-minute video needs ~1,400 words. Shorts and Reels at 180 wpm fit 90-180 words in 30-60 seconds.

At conversational speed (140 wpm), a 1,000-word script is about 7 minutes 8 seconds. At slow audiobook narration (110 wpm), it's about 9 minutes. At TV-presenter pace (160 wpm) it's 6 minutes 15 seconds. At energetic short-form pace (180 wpm) it's 5 minutes 33 seconds.

Most podcasters land between 140-160 wpm. Slower than 130 feels sluggish; faster than 175 feels rushed unless you're going for a high-energy short-form style. Listen to a few episodes in your target genre and match the cadence.

Yes. Pick the 'Slow narration' setting (110 wpm) which matches industry-standard audiobook pacing. ACX (Audible's platform) recommends 9,300 finished words per hour of audio, which works out to ~155 wpm including pauses. Our calculator gives the spoken duration only; add 5-10% for pauses, chapter breaks, and pickups.

Paste the same script into our script-to-video flow and get a finished narrated MP4 with AI voiceover, generated scenes, captions, and music in about two minutes. The duration you calculated here is what the finished video will run at the speaking rate you picked.