Frames Per Beat: How Long Each Cut Should Be at Any BPM
A table of beat length in frames at 24, 25, 30 and 60 fps for common tempos, the formula behind it, and why you should cut on markers instead of a fixed clip length.
If you want a cut on every beat, or every bar, you need to know how long that is in frames. The sum is short: seconds per beat is 60 divided by the BPM, and frames per beat is that times your frame rate.
Frames per beat = 60 ÷ BPM × frame rate
At 120 BPM and 30 fps: 60 ÷ 120 = 0.5 seconds, and 0.5 × 30 = 15 frames.
Frames per beat at common tempos
| BPM | One beat | 24 fps | 25 fps | 30 fps | 60 fps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 1000 ms | 24 | 25 | 30 | 60 |
| 80 | 750 ms | 18 | 18.75 | 22.5 | 45 |
| 90 | 667 ms | 16 | 16.67 | 20 | 40 |
| 100 | 600 ms | 14.4 | 15 | 18 | 36 |
| 110 | 545 ms | 13.09 | 13.64 | 16.36 | 32.73 |
| 120 | 500 ms | 12 | 12.5 | 15 | 30 |
| 128 | 469 ms | 11.25 | 11.72 | 14.06 | 28.13 |
| 140 | 429 ms | 10.29 | 10.71 | 12.86 | 25.71 |
| 150 | 400 ms | 9.6 | 10 | 12 | 24 |
| 160 | 375 ms | 9 | 9.38 | 11.25 | 22.5 |
| 174 | 345 ms | 8.28 | 8.62 | 10.34 | 20.69 |
For a bar of 4/4, multiply by 4. At 128 BPM and 24 fps a bar is 45 frames, or 1.875 seconds.
Why a fixed clip length drifts
Most of those numbers are not whole frames, and a clip can only be a whole number of frames long. Cut every clip to 11 frames at 128 BPM and 24 fps, and each cut lands a quarter of a frame early. After 40 beats you are 10 frames ahead of the song.
Markers don't add up that error, because each one sits at its own place in the song and rounds to the nearest frame on its own. That is the reason to cut on markers rather than to a set length. The BPM and beat detector finds the tempo and every beat and exports markers for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere can then place your clips on them.
Which frame rate cuts cleanest?
Don't change the frame rate of a project for this. It's worth knowing, though, that 120 BPM lands on whole frames at 24, 30 and 60 fps, which is why it feels easy to cut by hand. A higher frame rate gives you finer cut points, since one frame is a smaller slice of time.
Double and half time
If a table row feels too frantic, cut to every second beat. A song at 174 BPM often feels like 87, so a cut every 2 beats (about 16.6 frames at 24 fps) follows the pulse people nod to. If the detector shows a tempo twice what you expected, its ÷2 button halves the beats.
Free, no upload. Get the extension for transcripts beside YouTube and TikTok videos, or see what Pro adds.