Timecode calculator

How timecode counts at each frame rate

24, 25, 30, 50, 60 fps

Whole frames every secondAn hour is 86,400, 90,000, 108,000, 180,000 or 216,000 frames

29.97 drop-frame

Skips labels 00 and 01At every minute but each tenth: 107,892 frames an hour

59.94 drop-frame

Skips labels 00 to 03At every minute but each tenth: 215,784 frames an hour

23.976 and non-drop

Run 0.1% slow against the clock3.6 seconds an hour: 01:00:00:00 plays in 3,603.6 s

Source: Apple Final Cut Pro User Guide: Glossary (drop frame timecode), read on October 28, 2026. Frame counts are arithmetic from those rules.

Drop-frame, by example

At 29.97 fps drop-frame the frame after 00:00:59;29 is 00:01:00;02: labels 00 and 01 are skipped. At 00:09:59;29 the next frame is 00:10:00;00, because every tenth minute keeps them. That keeps the timecode within about two frames of the clock (an hour of it ends 3.6 milliseconds early), which is why broadcast deliveries at 29.97 use it. Type 00:01:00;00 at 29.97 drop-frame and the calculator tells you it doesn't exist.

Frames, timecode and real seconds

Timecode counts frames, not seconds. At 23.976, 29.97 and 59.94 fps each frame lasts a little longer than its label suggests, so the calculator shows both the frame count and the real duration. For editing, that difference decides whether a 30-minute show actually fits a 30-minute slot. To work out how long an edit takes rather than how long it runs, the video editing time calculator has the published editing ratios, and the video bitrate checker reads a file's real frame rate if you're not sure which one you have.

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