Free tool
Timecode calculator. Frames, drop frame, real time.
Turn timecode into frames and back, add or subtract two timecodes, and find the same moment at another frame rate. It counts frames the way the Final Cut export in DropYourFiles does.
23.976 has no drop frame.
Timecode and frames
Real time: 1:00:03.600, at the true rate of 23.976 fps.
Add or subtract
00:02:16:08
- Frames3,272
- Real time0:02:16.470
The same moment at another frame rate
No drop frame at this rate.
01:00:03:15
- Frames90,090
- Real time1:00:03.600
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or kept.
When the notes come from a client, nobody has to type a timecode. In DropYourFiles your client leaves a note on the frame they paused on, and you download every note for Final Cut as a to-do marker on that frame. How it works with Final Cut
The short answer.
Timecode is a frame count written as hours:minutes:seconds:frames. To turn it into frames, multiply the hours by 3,600 and the minutes by 60, add the seconds, multiply the total by the timecode rate, then add the frames. The timecode rate is the whole number: 24 for 23.976, 30 for 29.97.
At 23.976 and 29.97 the label counts a little slower than a clock, so an hour of timecode lasts 3,603.6 seconds. Drop frame fixes that at 29.97 and 59.94 by skipping labels, never frames: ;00 and ;01 at the start of every minute except every tenth.
Drop frame, in one minute.
A drop frame timecode has a semicolon before the frames, like 01:00:00;00. At 29.97, an hour of drop frame timecode is 107,892 frames and lasts 59 minutes 59.996 seconds by the clock, so the label and the clock agree. Without drop frame, 29.97 timecode falls 3.6 seconds behind the clock every hour.
23.976 has no drop frame count. Its timecode always runs 3.6 seconds slow an hour, and that is normal.
Changing frame rate.
Moving a timecode to another rate keeps the moment, not the number. The calculator finds the frame at the same real time at the new rate, so 01:00:00:00 at 23.976 becomes 01:00:03:15 at 25, because that hour of 23.976 timecode lasts 3,603.6 seconds.
Questions.
How many frames are in an hour of 23.976 timecode?
86,400, the same as 24 fps, because the label counts 24 frames a second. Those frames take 3,603.6 seconds to play.
Is 23.976 drop frame?
No. Drop frame exists for 29.97 and 59.94. At 23.976, timecode runs 3.6 seconds slower than the clock each hour.
What does the semicolon in a timecode mean?
It marks drop frame: 00:01:00;02 is drop frame, 00:01:00:02 is not. Some software uses a period or a comma for the same thing.
How do I add two timecodes?
Turn each one into frames at the same rate, add the frames, and turn the total back into timecode. The calculator does each step, including drop frame.
Why does my timecode not match the clock?
At 29.97 without drop frame, and at 23.976, the label counts whole frames at 30 or 24 while the video plays slightly slower. Over an hour that is 3.6 seconds. The real time line on the calculator shows the clock.
Keep reading.
- Client notes to Final Cut markers
- Client notes as Final Cut Pro to-do markers
- How to import comments into Final Cut Pro
- How to get client feedback on a video
More free tools: video file size calculator, upload time calculator, fCPXML to SRT and CSV, client notes to Final Cut markers, or all of them.
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