BPM to FPS Calculator
How many frames per beat is 120 BPM at 30 fps? Enter the tempo and your frame rate to get frames per beat and bar, the exact frame every beat lands on, and the tempos that fit your frame rate exactly.
Frame each beat lands on
Cut on these frames and every cut stays within half a frame of the beat, however long the song.
| Beat | Time | Exact frame | Nearest frame |
|---|
FPS to BPM: tempos that land on whole frames
How to convert BPM to FPS
A beat lasts 60 ÷ BPM seconds, so the number of frames in one beat is:
Frames per beat = FPS × 60 ÷ BPM
- Seconds per beat = 60 ÷ BPM
- Frames per bar = frames per beat × beats per bar
- Frame of beat n = first beat's frame + (n - 1) × frames per beat
- BPM from frames = FPS × 60 ÷ frames per beat
Worked examples: 120 BPM at 30 fps is 15 frames per beat. 120 BPM at 12 fps is 6 frames per beat, so 4 beats are 24 frames. 75 BPM at 24 fps is 19.2 frames per beat, which never lands on a whole frame, so place each cut on the nearest frame instead of every 19.
Frames per beat at common tempos
| BPM | 12 fps | 24 fps | 25 fps | 30 fps | 60 fps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 12 | 24 | 25 | 30 | 60 |
| 70 | 10.29 | 20.57 | 21.43 | 25.71 | 51.43 |
| 80 | 9 | 18 | 18.75 | 22.50 | 45 |
| 90 | 8 | 16 | 16.67 | 20 | 40 |
| 100 | 7.20 | 14.40 | 15 | 18 | 36 |
| 110 | 6.55 | 13.09 | 13.64 | 16.36 | 32.73 |
| 120 | 6 | 12 | 12.50 | 15 | 30 |
| 128 | 5.63 | 11.25 | 11.72 | 14.06 | 28.13 |
| 140 | 5.14 | 10.29 | 10.71 | 12.86 | 25.71 |
| 150 | 4.80 | 9.60 | 10 | 12 | 24 |
| 160 | 4.50 | 9 | 9.38 | 11.25 | 22.50 |
| 170 | 4.24 | 8.47 | 8.82 | 10.59 | 21.18 |
| 174 | 4.14 | 8.28 | 8.62 | 10.34 | 20.69 |
| 180 | 4 | 8 | 8.33 | 10 | 20 |
Highlighted values are whole frames: every beat lands exactly on a frame.
Skip the math: get a marker on every beat
A calculator assumes the tempo never moves and that you know where beat one is. Onset Engine listens to the song itself, finds every beat and bar start, and exports them as markers for Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and After Effects, each named by bar and beat. Beat markers are free in the Demo.
See how beat markers work →BPM to FPS questions
How many frames per beat is 120 BPM at 30 fps?
15 frames. Multiply the frame rate by 60 and divide by the BPM: 30 × 60 ÷ 120 = 15. A beat lands every 15 frames, or every half second, and a 4-beat bar is 60 frames. The same song at 24 fps is 12 frames per beat, at 25 fps 12.5, and at 60 fps 30.
How do I convert FPS to BPM?
Divide 60 times the frame rate by the number of frames you want per beat: BPM = FPS × 60 ÷ frames per beat. A beat every 10 frames at 30 fps is 30 × 60 ÷ 10 = 180 BPM. The calculator lists every tempo that lands on a whole number of frames at your frame rate; click one to load it.
What if frames per beat is not a whole number?
Then beats fall between frames, and the mistake to avoid is rounding once and repeating it. At 128 BPM and 24 fps a beat is 11.25 frames. Cut every 11 frames and you are 16 frames - two thirds of a second - early by the end of bar 16. Instead, put each cut on the frame nearest to that beat's exact position, which is what the frame list shows. Every cut is then within half a frame of the beat (about 21 ms at 24 fps), well under what viewers notice, and the error never builds up.
Which frame rate works best for my song's BPM?
For animation, where you choose the frame rate, pick one that gives a whole number of frames per beat, or nudge the tempo to one that does: 120 BPM is a clean 12 frames at 24 fps and 15 at 30 fps, while 128 BPM is not whole at any common rate. For camera footage, keep the frame rate you shot at and place cuts on the nearest frame to each beat.
Does the time signature change the math?
Not for a single beat: frames per beat depend only on BPM and frame rate. It changes the bar. Frames per bar = frames per beat × beats per bar, so a bar of 3/4 at 149 BPM and 29.97 fps is about 36.2 frames. Set Beats per bar and the bar figures and the frame list follow.
Does it handle 23.976, 29.97 and 59.94 fps?
Yes. Those rates are really 24000/1001, 30000/1001 and 60000/1001 frames per second, and the calculator uses the exact values. Drop-frame timecode skips timecode numbers, not frames, so frame counts are unaffected. Frame numbers start at 0, matching a timeline that starts at 00:00:00:00.