Talking videos & short lessons
Leave time
for the pauses.
Count the words, choose a speaking pace and add silent time. Then check the estimate with a read-aloud rehearsal.
Estimate the length of a script
Paste a script or load the example to begin.
Then use your device’s Copy command. If selection does not work, select the text manually. This page never writes to the clipboard.
This tool calculates in the page. It does not send or save the script, put it in the address, or log it to analytics. Your browser, keyboard or extensions can have their own behavior. Do not paste confidential material.
60 words, with room to stop
This original, fictional tutorial voiceover contains 60 words under this planner’s English count. It is not a recording or a tested speaking performance.
Before you record, decide what your viewer should remember. Put that idea in one sentence. Add one example that makes it concrete. Leave a short pause before your final line. Read the draft aloud once, then remove any phrase that feels difficult to say. Your timed rehearsal, not this calculator, tells you whether the finished video fits your chosen limit.
The example button loads that text, an assumed 120 words per minute and 5 seconds of added pauses. The estimate is:
60 × 60 ÷ 120 + 5 = 35 seconds
At 150 words per minute with the same 5-second pause: 29 seconds
The default 150 and the example’s 120 are editable arithmetic assumptions, not a recommended pace for everyone. Complex names, numbers, emphasis, breathing, demonstrations and language can change the actual duration. If a demonstration happens during a spoken line, do not automatically add its full duration again.
What this count includes
The planner uses the browser’s Intl.Segmenter with English word segmentation and counts segments marked as word-like. If that is unavailable, it counts Unicode letter or number groups and keeps internal apostrophes together. Punctuation-only text has no estimate. Older browsers can split some numbers and compounds differently.
Written numbers are not expanded into spoken words: 2026 is not timed as the phrase you might say aloud. Bracketed directions such as [pause here] can contribute words even if you never speak them. Remove unspoken cues from the timed text, then put their silent duration in Added pauses. Line breaks do not add silence automatically.
This is an English-draft planning aid. It does not detect your speaking pace, follow your voice, change a teleprompter’s speed, record audio or guarantee that a video fits a platform’s time limit. Longer texts are rejected rather than silently shortened.
Replace assumptions with a timed read
- Separate words from actions. Keep only what you will say in the text. Note pauses or silent demonstrations outside it.
- Read the actual draft aloud. Use an ordinary timer. Include the pauses you genuinely take; do not accelerate to make the estimate look right.
- Count silent time once. If your timed read already includes a pause, do not add that pause again. Add only a separate action that will extend the finished video.
- Cut an idea before forcing a pace. Remove a repeated point or split the video if the read feels rushed. Rehearse the revised words.
- Check the saved file. Before sharing a real recording, open the export and review its duration, sound and framing. A moving prompt or a live preview is not a saved video.
For example, a measured 42-second read that already includes every pause stays 42 seconds. Add a separate 5-second silent shot only if it extends the video, giving 47 seconds. Those values are fictional arithmetic, not a prediction for the sample above.
No account, email address or app download is needed to use this planner or the paper method. The summary contains the word count and timing assumptions, not your script. Selecting it does not copy anything until you use your device’s Copy command.