Words to minutes: speech time calculator
Find out how long your script, speech or voiceover takes to say out loud — or how many words you need to fill a slot.
Typical for: Speeches, e-learning, TED-style talks.
Speaking time
5:21
750 words at 140 wpm
Silent reading: 3:09 · Live talk with a 15% pause buffer: 6:10
≈ 700 words
Speech length table
| Length | Slow · 120 wpm | Presentation · 140 wpm | Narration · 155 wpm | Conversational · 170 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 min | 120 | 140 | 155 | 170 |
| 2 min | 240 | 280 | 310 | 340 |
| 3 min | 360 | 420 | 465 | 510 |
| 4 min | 480 | 560 | 620 | 680 |
| 5 min | 600 | 700 | 775 | 850 |
| 6 min | 720 | 840 | 930 | 1,020 |
| 7 min | 840 | 980 | 1,085 | 1,190 |
| 8 min | 960 | 1,120 | 1,240 | 1,360 |
| 10 min | 1,200 | 1,400 | 1,550 | 1,700 |
| 12 min | 1,440 | 1,680 | 1,860 | 2,040 |
| 15 min | 1,800 | 2,100 | 2,325 | 2,550 |
| 20 min | 2,400 | 2,800 | 3,100 | 3,400 |
| 30 min | 3,600 | 4,200 | 4,650 | 5,100 |
| 45 min | 5,400 | 6,300 | 6,975 | 7,650 |
| 60 min | 7,200 | 8,400 | 9,300 | 10,200 |
Word counts are rounded. A 5-minute speech at a presentation pace is about 700 words; a 10-minute talk about 1,400.
How long does it take to say…
| Words | Slow · 120 | Presentation · 140 | Narration · 155 | Silent reading · 238 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 words | 0:50 | 0:43 | 0:39 | 0:25 |
| 150 words | 1:15 | 1:04 | 0:58 | 0:38 |
| 200 words | 1:40 | 1:26 | 1:17 | 0:50 |
| 250 words | 2:05 | 1:47 | 1:37 | 1:03 |
| 300 words | 2:30 | 2:09 | 1:56 | 1:16 |
| 400 words | 3:20 | 2:51 | 2:35 | 1:41 |
| 500 words | 4:10 | 3:34 | 3:14 | 2:06 |
| 600 words | 5:00 | 4:17 | 3:52 | 2:31 |
| 700 words | 5:50 | 5:00 | 4:31 | 2:56 |
| 750 words | 6:15 | 5:21 | 4:50 | 3:09 |
| 800 words | 6:40 | 5:43 | 5:10 | 3:22 |
| 1,000 words | 8:20 | 7:09 | 6:27 | 4:12 |
| 1,200 words | 10:00 | 8:34 | 7:45 | 5:03 |
| 1,500 words | 12:30 | 10:43 | 9:41 | 6:18 |
| 2,000 words | 16:40 | 14:17 | 12:54 | 8:24 |
| 2,500 words | 20:50 | 17:51 | 16:08 | 10:30 |
| 3,000 words | 25:00 | 21:26 | 19:21 | 12:36 |
| 4,000 words | 33:20 | 28:34 | 25:48 | 16:48 |
| 5,000 words | 41:40 | 35:43 | 32:15 | 21:01 |
Times in min:sec. Silent reading rate from Brysbaert (2019), a meta-analysis of 190 reading studies.
Why “words per minute” is only a starting point
Word counts treat “a” and “internationalisation” the same, but one takes a tenth of a second and the other nearly a second. Scripts full of long technical words run slower than their word count suggests; chatty scripts run faster.
The bigger variable is silence. Speakers who sound confident pause often — after a key point, before a reveal, when changing slides. Those pauses easily add 10–20% to a speech. That is why this calculator counts [pause] markers separately: in Auditext, a pause you type is inserted into the audio at its exact length.
Timing a voiceover to picture
Editors work backwards: a 45-second product video with a 3-second logo sting leaves about 42 seconds of speech, which is roughly 105 words at 150 wpm. Write to that number, then generate the audio in the text to speech studio and compare the real duration. Or let the voiceover script writer draft it to length for you.
Questions people ask
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
At a typical presentation pace of 130–150 words per minute, a 5-minute speech is about 650–750 words. Aim for the lower end if you plan pauses for emphasis or audience reaction.
How long does it take to say 1,000 words?
About 6 minutes 40 seconds at 150 words per minute, or 7 minutes 42 seconds at a slower 130 words per minute presentation pace.
What is a normal speaking rate?
Most English speakers talk at roughly 120–160 words per minute in presentations and 150–180 in relaxed conversation. Audiobook narrators commonly read at about 150–160 words per minute, and the widely used guideline for voiceover is 150.
How many words per minute is text to speech?
Most AI voices default to about 150–170 words per minute. In Auditext, the pace slider scales that from 0.7× (about 105 wpm) to 1.5× (about 225 wpm), and explicit [pause] markers add their exact length on top.
How do you convert words to minutes?
Divide the word count by the speaking rate in words per minute. 1,000 words ÷ 140 wpm = 7.1 minutes, or about 7 minutes 9 seconds. Add the length of any planned pauses on top.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words silently?
About 4 minutes 12 seconds at the average adult silent reading rate of roughly 238 words per minute for non-fiction, according to a 2019 meta-analysis by Marc Brysbaert. Reading aloud is much slower.
How many words for a 30-second or 60-second ad?
Broadcast copywriters usually budget about 65–75 words for a 30-second spot and 130–150 for a 60-second spot, leaving room for a brand line and music.
More from the studio
- AI text to speechType or upload, pick one of 30 voices, download MP3.
- AI voice generatorBrowse voices or describe one and let the casting assistant pick.
- Text to MP3Render text to an MP3 at the bitrate you choose.
- PDF to audioPull the text out of a PDF and listen or export.
- Read aloudUnlimited reading with word highlighting, using your device voices.
- Voiceover script writerDraft or tighten a script timed to your video length.
- SSML editorBuild pauses, emphasis and prosody tags and convert them.
- How TTS worksStep through what happens between text and sound.