Reading Time Calculator

What this tool does

Paste text or type a character count, and it calculates how long the text takes to read silently and to read aloud (for a talk or narration) in minutes and seconds, along with the character count without spaces and the word count. Use it to show 'N min read' on a blog post, fit a presentation or speech script to a time limit, or size a video script or narration.

How it is calculated

Reading time = characters without spaces ÷ reading speed per minute. The slider sets 150–600 characters per minute in steps of 10, defaulting to 350, a pace tuned for Korean text. Speaking time assumes you read the same text aloud at half the reading speed. With the count field's default of 3,000 characters at 350 per minute: 3,000 ÷ 350 ≈ 8.57 minutes, shown as 8 m 34 s, and speaking at 175 per minute takes 17 m 9 s. Results are rounded to the second, and anything under a minute shows seconds only. All whitespace, including spaces and line breaks, is excluded from the count; punctuation and digits are included. Words are space-separated chunks in paste mode and estimated as characters ÷ 5 in count mode.

• Paste text in the 'Paste text' tab, or enter a number in the 'Enter count directly' tab
• Set the reading speed slider to your pace (350 characters per minute by default)
• Reading and speaking times update as you type
• To size a script, multiply the target minutes by (speed ÷ 2). At 350 per minute, a 3-minute script is about 525 characters

Things to know

• As the page's own note says, average Korean reading speed is around 300–400 characters per minute, but it varies widely with the reader and the difficulty. Timing yourself on one of your own pieces and setting the slider to match is the most accurate.
• Leave slack for presentations. Slide changes, audience reactions and pauses usually make a live talk longer than a read-through.
• This differs from contest or assignment limits that include spaces; the count here excludes them.
• English reading speed is normally measured in words, not characters, so this character-based slider gives long times for English. For English text, divide the word count by your words per minute.
• Text heavy with tables, code or formulas reads slower than prose and will come out too short. Lower the speed for those.
• Typing in the count field adds thousands separators automatically.

Frequently asked questions