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Time-Lapse Clip Length Calculator

Enter your shot count and playback fps to find the final clip length.

How it is calculated

A time-lapse plays back one captured frame per video frame, so the clip length depends only on how many frames you have and the playback rate, not on how long the shooting took:

clip length (s) = shots ÷ fps

shots is the number of stills or frames captured and fps the playback frame rate of the final video, for example 24, 25 or 30. The result is shown in seconds with two decimals and also as minutes and seconds (m:ss). In the minutes-and-seconds form the fraction of a second is cut off, not rounded, so 62.50 s shows as 1:02. Frames can be 0 or more, and fps must be above 0. Shooting duration and capture interval are not inputs: to find them, multiply the number of shots by your interval.

Worked example

You capture 1,500 frames and plan to export the video at 24 fps. Clip length = 1,500 ÷ 24 = 62.50 s. That is 62 whole seconds, which the tool displays as 1:02 (one minute, two seconds). If you took one frame every 5 seconds, the shoot itself lasted 1,500 × 5 = 7,500 s, or 2 h 5 min, and it compresses into a clip of about a minute.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Using the capture time instead of the number of frames. Only the frame count and the fps matter; a 2-hour shoot and a 20-minute shoot give the same clip if they have the same number of frames.
  • Entering the interval between shots in the shots field. If the interval is 5 s, that is not 5 shots; multiply the shoot time by the shots per second instead.
  • Entering the wrong fps for the project. The same 1,500 frames last 50 s at 30 fps but 62.50 s at 24 fps, so use the frame rate you will actually export.
  • Reading the m:ss figure as rounded. It truncates, so 62.99 s still shows 1:02.
  • Forgetting transitions, titles or slow-motion sections. The tool counts only the frames you enter, so extra material adds to the final video length.

About this calculator

Final clip length is clip length (seconds) = number of frames captured ÷ playback frame rate. A time-lapse shot with 900 individual frames played back at 30fps runs for 30 seconds, regardless of how long the actual capture took (which could have been hours).

Videographers and photographers planning a time-lapse use this calculation to check how long a shot sequence will play once assembled, before committing to an interval and shoot duration in the field. The tool only works forward, from shots and fps to clip length; to plan backward from a target length, multiply the target seconds by the fps yourself.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Working out the interval from the event is the step that comes before this tool. If a sunset lasts one hour and you want about 10 seconds at 24 fps, you need 240 frames, so one frame every 15 seconds. Then enter 240 and 24 here to confirm the 10.00 s. Shutter time has to stay shorter than that interval, and the same 240 frames run 8 s at 30 fps. What kind of subject are you shooting, clouds, stars or construction?

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