2026-10-29
How Long Should a YouTube Script Be? Words by Video Length
"How long should my script be?" has a simple answer: it depends on how fast the narrator speaks. Most narration for explainer-style videos runs at about 150 words per minute. That's a good planning number, and it makes the maths easy.
Words by video length (at 150 words per minute)
| Video length | Script length |
|---|---|
| 3 minutes | about 450 words |
| 5 minutes | about 750 words |
| 8 minutes | about 1,200 words |
| 10 minutes | about 1,500 words |
| 12 minutes | about 1,800 words |
| 15 minutes | about 2,250 words |
| 20 minutes | about 3,000 words |
Real narration usually falls between 130 and 170 words per minute. A calm, documentary-style voice sits lower; a quick explainer voice sits higher. Plan with 150, then adjust.
Check your own pace in two minutes
- Pick a paragraph of about 150 words from your script.
- Read it aloud the way you will in the final video, with natural pauses.
- Time it. If it takes 1 minute, your pace is 150. If it takes 55 seconds, you read faster (about 165); if it takes 70 seconds, slower (about 130).
- Use your number: script words = target minutes x your words per minute.
Remember the pauses
The words-per-minute figure already includes normal sentence pauses. But if you add long silences, music-only sections, or on-screen reading time (for a chart, say), subtract those seconds from the narration. A 10-minute video with 40 seconds of silence needs about 1,400 words, not 1,500.
Longer isn't better
Viewers don't reward length by itself; they reward a video that holds their attention. A tight 6-minute video beats a padded 12-minute one. Pick the length the story needs:
- One idea, one surprising fact: 3 to 5 minutes.
- A case file, a mini-documentary, a clear explainer: 8 to 12 minutes.
- A multi-part story with real depth: 15 minutes or more, but only if each section earns its place.
How to hit the length without padding
- Write the beats first (hook, setup, middle, payoff, close) and give each a word budget.
- If you're over, cut a whole beat, not a few words from every sentence.
- If you're under, add evidence, an example or a counter-argument, not filler.
A beat budget for a 10-minute video looks like this: hook 75 words, setup 150, middle 900, payoff 225, close 110. See the full beat tables in our six-step workflow.
Get templates with the timings built in
The free sample includes one script skeleton with timings and word counts. The Faceless YouTube Starter Pack has six, for different kinds of video.
Also read: a free script template you can copy.