Paste your script and see immediately how long your video, course module, Short or voiceover will roughly be — calculated from words per minute.
Slow (130 WPM)
Normal (150 WPM)
Fast (170 WPM)
Custom WPM:
A script timer helps during pre-production. Before recording, you can see whether your text fits a 30-second Short, a 5-minute YouTube video, a course module or a voiceover. This lets you shorten, structure and avoid timing problems before you press record.
A 500-word script takes about 3:51 minutes at 130 WPM, 3:20 minutes at 150 WPM and 2:56 minutes at 170 WPM. The same text can feel like a calm course explanation or a fast Shorts narration, depending on speaking speed.
WPM means words per minute. The value describes how many words are spoken in one minute. Lower WPM feels calmer and easier to understand; higher WPM feels faster and more energetic, but can be harder to follow with complex topics.
| Speaking speed | Typical WPM | Best for | 500 words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow | 130 WPM | Courses, tutorials, calm voiceovers | ≈ 03:51 |
| Normal | 150 WPM | YouTube videos, explainers, product demos | ≈ 03:20 |
| Fast | 170 WPM | Shorts, Reels, TikTok hooks, fast promos | ≈ 02:56 |
Not every format needs the same pace. A course video must remain easy to understand, a voiceover needs pauses and emphasis, while Shorts are often compact and quickly edited.
Estimate in advance how long an AI voiceover or spoken script will be before generating audio or booking a recording.
Plan lessons, modules and lectures so they fit into useful learning sections.
Check whether the hook, main message and call to action fit into 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
Once the length fits, record the video or generate a voiceover. Then upload the finished audio or video to Subvideo.ai to generate subtitles automatically, translate them or burn them directly into the video.
Use the script timer for planning. Afterwards, continue with AI Voiceover or the Subtitle Generator for the next step in production.
Open AI Voiceover Open Subtitle GeneratorPaste your video script into the editor area or write it there directly.
The tool counts words and characters automatically in real time.
Compare slow, normal and fast speaking or enter your own WPM value.
WPM means words per minute. CPM means characters per minute and is used as an approximation for languages without clear word separation, such as Chinese or Japanese.
For many YouTube videos and explainers, around 150 WPM is a good average. Calm courses are often lower; fast Shorts or promos are usually higher.
At 150 WPM, a 500-word script takes about 3 minutes and 20 seconds. At 130 WPM it is about 3 minutes and 51 seconds; at 170 WPM about 2 minutes and 56 seconds.
Yes. Runtime is especially important for voiceovers because pauses, emphasis and readability need to be planned. A lower WPM value is often more realistic for calm voiceovers.
Yes. The timer helps split lessons into suitable modules and prevents individual course videos from becoming too long.
Yes. For Shorts, Reels and TikToks, the timer helps you see whether a script fits into 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
After recording, upload your video or audio to Subvideo.ai to generate subtitles automatically, translate them and burn them into the video if needed.