How Long Is a Script When Read Aloud? (Voice Over Timing Guide)

Published 2026-07-17 · FrameMath Guides

You’ve written 850 words of narration. Is that a five-minute video or a seven-minute one? The answer decides your shot list, your music licensing, maybe your ad budget. Here are the real numbers professionals use — and the adjustments that make them accurate.

The baseline numbers

Spoken English narration lands between 120 and 190 words per minute (wpm) depending on style:

The industry shorthand worth memorizing: 150 wpm ≈ 2.5 words per second. At that pace:

• 100 words ≈ 40 seconds
• 500 words ≈ 3 min 20 s
• 1,000 words ≈ 6 min 40 s
• 5,000 words ≈ 33 minutes

Paste your actual script into our script timer to get the precise figure at any pace — it counts real words, not estimates.

Commercial spots: the word budgets

Broadcast spots are unforgiving — the read must fit with air to spare. Working budgets:

• 6-second bumper: 10–12 words. One thought, no more.
• 15 seconds: 30–35 words comfortable, 40 absolute max.
• 30 seconds: 65–75 words. The classic spot; leave 1–2 seconds of air.
• 60 seconds: 135–150 words.

If the copy includes a phone number, URL or legal disclaimer, budget it at half pace — numbers and mandated text must be read slowly and clearly, and clearance departments will reject rushed disclaimers.

Why finished videos run longer than the read

A wpm calculation measures continuous speech. Finished edits breathe:

1. Pauses carry meaning. Beats after key lines, silence over impactful visuals.
2. B-roll moments. Sections where visuals play without narration.
3. Breath and pickup room. Even tight edits keep natural breaths.

Rule of thumb: a narration-driven YouTube video or documentary runs 10–20% longer than the raw read time. An 8-minute read becomes a 9–9.5 minute video. Interview-driven pieces are looser still.

Screenwriters use a different measure entirely — one page ≈ one minute in standard screenplay format — because dialogue scenes include action, reaction and silence that word counts can’t see.

Working backwards from a target length

Producers usually face the reverse problem: the video must be N minutes, how many words may I write? Multiply target minutes by your narrator’s pace, then subtract 10–15% for breathing room:

4-minute explainer × 150 wpm = 600 words → write ~520 words.

Writing to fit before recording beats cutting a finished VO session every time — narration edited for length after the fact almost always sounds edited.

The last 10%: read it aloud

Every professional trick above gets you to ±10%. The final accuracy comes only from reading the script aloud, out loud, at performance energy — copy that scans fine on the page routinely tangles the tongue at speed. Time it once with a stopwatch, or keep the script timer open and adjust the custom wpm until it matches your narrator’s actual pace; from then on, its numbers are calibrated to your voice.