Timecode ↔ Frames Calculator (Drop-Frame & Non-Drop)

How it works

non-drop: frames = ((h × 60 + m) × 60 + s) × fps + ff · drop-frame (29.97): frames = same − 2 × (total minutes − ⌊total minutes ÷ 10⌋) · real time = frames ÷ actual fps (30000 ÷ 1001 for 29.97)

Timecode labels every frame with hours, minutes, seconds and a frame number, and at integer frame rates it is simply a count in mixed radix. NTSC colour television runs at 30 × 1000/1001 frames per second, so a counter that labels 30 frames per second drifts 3.6 seconds behind the clock every hour; drop-frame timecode fixes the drift not by dropping frames but by skipping two frame numbers at the start of each minute, except every tenth minute, which removes 108 labels per hour and keeps the display within a frame or two of real time. Converting between timecode and frame counts therefore needs the frame rate, the drop-frame flag and the 1001 correction to get the real duration right, which is what matters when a broadcast slot, a subtitle cue or a music sync depends on it.

Worked example

At 29.97 drop-frame, 01:00:00;00 is frame 107,892 — one hour of timecode contains 108,000 labels minus 108 dropped ones — and it corresponds to 107,892 ÷ 29.97 = 3,600.0 seconds of real time. The same 01:00:00:00 in non-drop is frame 108,000 and 3,603.6 real seconds. The span from 01:00:00;00 to 01:02:30;15 is 4,511 frames, about 2 min 30.5 s.

Frequently asked questions