Frame Time Calculator
FPS ↔ milliseconds
Convert FPS to milliseconds
Type in either box and the other follows. Frame time is the budget for one frame, and it is the unit anyone chasing a performance problem works in.
- Two-way, as you type
- One-tap common rates
- Full table to 480 FPS
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At 60 FPS each frame gets 16.67 ms. Miss that budget and the frame turns up late.
The formula is 1000 divided by the frame rate. The value of a page is not the arithmetic — it is having the common rates lined up next to each other.
Using it
What do people use this for?
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1
Finding a budget
Enter your target frame rate. The milliseconds you get back are how long everything — logic, drawing, compositing — has to finish in.
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2
Costing a change
If a feature adds 3 ms per frame, put your current frame time in the right box, add 3, and read the new frame rate off the left.
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3
Checking a benchmark
A tool reporting 6.94 ms is reporting 144 FPS. Converting back and forth is the quickest way to see whether two tools agree.
Reference
FPS to frame time table
Every rate you are likely to need, with the half-frame budget people aim for in the third column.
| Rate | Frame time | Half-frame budget |
|---|---|---|
| 15 FPS | 66.67 ms | 33.33 ms |
| 24 FPS | 41.67 ms | 20.83 ms |
| 25 FPS | 40.00 ms | 20.00 ms |
| 30 FPS | 33.33 ms | 16.67 ms |
| 45 FPS | 22.22 ms | 11.11 ms |
| 48 FPS | 20.83 ms | 10.42 ms |
| 50 FPS | 20.00 ms | 10.00 ms |
| 60 FPS | 16.67 ms | 8.33 ms |
| 72 FPS | 13.89 ms | 6.94 ms |
| 75 FPS | 13.33 ms | 6.67 ms |
| 90 FPS | 11.11 ms | 5.56 ms |
| 100 FPS | 10.00 ms | 5.00 ms |
| 120 FPS | 8.33 ms | 4.17 ms |
| 144 FPS | 6.94 ms | 3.47 ms |
| 165 FPS | 6.06 ms | 3.03 ms |
| 180 FPS | 5.56 ms | 2.78 ms |
| 200 FPS | 5.00 ms | 2.50 ms |
| 240 FPS | 4.17 ms | 2.08 ms |
| 280 FPS | 3.57 ms | 1.79 ms |
| 300 FPS | 3.33 ms | 1.67 ms |
| 360 FPS | 2.78 ms | 1.39 ms |
| 480 FPS | 2.08 ms | 1.04 ms |
How do I convert FPS to milliseconds?
Divide 1000 by the frame rate. A second holds 1000 milliseconds, so 60 FPS gives 1000 ÷ 60 = 16.67 ms per frame. To go back the other way, divide 1000 by the frame time.
1000 ÷ fps = ms. So 120 FPS is 8.33 ms.
1000 ÷ ms = fps. So 11.1 ms is 90 FPS.
Why work in frame time at all?
Because milliseconds add up and frame rates do not. A scene costing 8 ms plus an effect costing 4 ms is 12 ms — simple. The same sum in FPS has no obvious answer. It also makes the diminishing returns obvious: 30 → 60 saves 16.7 ms per frame, 120 → 240 saves 4.2 ms. Same doubling, four times less real time.
What is the half-frame rule?
The third column in the table is half your frame time, and it is what a lot of people actually budget to. Your code is not the only thing that has to happen in a frame — the browser lays out and paints, the compositor combines layers, the driver hands it to the display.
Is frame time the same as latency?
No. Frame time is how long one frame takes to produce. Latency is how long until something you did appears on screen, which also includes your input device, any queued frames, the display's processing and the pixels changing. A game at a perfect 8.33 ms can still have 60 ms of end-to-end latency.
Can I average frame rates?
No, and doing it flatters your results. Ten frames at 100 FPS and ten at 20 FPS is not 60 FPS — it is 600 ms for 20 frames, so 33 FPS. Average the frame times, then convert at the end. This is the most common mistake in homemade benchmarks.
FAQ
Common questions
What is the frame time at 60 FPS?
16.67 ms. At 30 it is 33.33 ms, at 120 it is 8.33 ms and at 144 it is 6.94 ms.
What is a good frame time?
At or under your display's refresh interval, held consistently. On 60 Hz that is 16.67 ms; on 144 Hz it is 6.94 ms.
Why do developers use frame time instead of FPS?
Because it adds up. Individual costs can be summed in milliseconds, and it makes the diminishing returns of higher frame rates obvious.
What is the 1% low in milliseconds?
The same idea from the other end: take the slowest 1% of frames and average their times. A 1% low of 33 ms means your worst frames ran at the equivalent of 30 FPS.
Does the calculator work offline?
Once the page has loaded, yes — and the reference table is in the HTML, so it reads fine even with JavaScript off.
Keep going
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Convert a frame rate
Type a rate, read the milliseconds, keep the table for the ones you use daily.
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