Reading time calculator
Estimate how long an article takes to read: Chinese characters and English words are counted separately, with editable reading speeds and a per-image allowance.
Runs in your browserEvery computation happens in your browser — your data never leaves this device.
Text and reading speed
Chinese is counted in characters and English in words, with separate speeds for each; images add a fixed allowance, 12 seconds each by default. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Estimate
00000 min 0 s0 min 0 s0 min 0 sWhat this tool does
- Put an accurate “X min read” badge on a blog post or newsletter by pasting the body text — mixed Chinese and English is counted separately.
- Time a talk or video script before recording so you do not discover halfway through that it runs long.
- Compare the length of source and translated drafts when quoting a localization job.
- Plan a reading session: add up the estimates for several articles to see how much fits in an afternoon.
Example
Input
A document with 300 CJK characters and 200 English words, Chinese speed 300 chars/min, English speed 200 words/min, plus 3 images at 12 seconds each
Output
CJK characters 300, Latin words 200, total reading units 500, images 3, text time 120 s, image time 36 s, total time 156 s (2 min 36 s) — about 3 minutes
Text time and image time are rounded separately and then added, so the numbers always add up; the headline figure is the ceiling in whole minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Why are Chinese and English speeds configured separately?
Chinese is counted per character and English per word, so a single speed would skew any mixed-language document badly. The defaults are 300 characters per minute for Chinese and 200 words per minute for English, both typical averages — tune them to your own pace.
Why do images add time of their own?
Images carry no words but do take time to look at. They are converted at a flat rate, 12 seconds each by default (the value Medium popularised). Lower it if that feels long, or set it to 0 to ignore images entirely.
Do the character counts include punctuation?
No. Only CJK characters, kana and hangul are counted; Latin and CJK punctuation, spaces and line breaks are ignored. That makes the count a much better proxy for reading effort than a raw character total.
Why does a tiny snippet still show 1 minute?
The headline figure rounds up to whole minutes so it can be dropped straight into a post header. For the precise value, read the “Total time” row, which is shown in minutes and seconds.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. Counting and estimation run entirely in your browser, the page makes no network requests, and your text disappears when you refresh.
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