Paste text to estimate how long it takes to read, by words or by characters
Reading time is simply the amount of text divided by a reading speed, so it is an estimate. Speed varies between readers and with the difficulty of the material. The defaults here are 250 words per minute for English and similar languages, and 500 characters per minute for Japanese. The slow, normal and fast buttons switch to 200, 250 and 350 words per minute, or 400, 500 and 700 characters per minute.
Japanese does not separate words with spaces, so a whitespace-based word count says nothing about the length of Japanese text. Count characters instead. For English and similar languages, counting words matches the reading experience more closely.
The defaults are 250 words per minute for English and similar languages, and 500 characters per minute for Japanese. The slow, normal and fast buttons switch to 200, 250 and 350 words per minute, or 400, 500 and 700 characters per minute. You can also type any speed directly.
It divides the amount of text by a reading speed, so it is an approximation. Real reading speed varies a lot between people and with how difficult the material is. It works well for the reading-time labels on articles or for sizing a talk.
No. Counting and the time calculation run entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere.