YouTube playlist length calculator

How long a playlist takes at any speed, and what is left once you start.

Works with any public or unlisted playlist, up to the first 500 videos.

How it works

  1. 1

    Paste the playlist

    Any public or unlisted playlist link, or a watch link with list= in it.

  2. 2

    Read the totals

    Set a speed with the slider, or type your own. Every number follows.

  3. 3

    Plan it

    Tick off what you watched, skip what you will not, and copy a plan by day.

An example: 40 videos that average 12 minutes are 8 hours at normal speed, 5 hours 20 minutes at 1.5x and 4 hours at 2x. An hour a day at 1.5x is six days, because the plan keeps videos whole and a day ends early when the next video will not fit.

Questions

Why are fewer videos counted than the playlist shows?

A private or removed video stays in a playlist as an item with no length, and a live stream has none until it ends. They are listed and left out of the totals, and the line above the numbers says how many of the playlist's items were measured.

What happens with a very long playlist?

The tool reads the first 500 videos, in playlist order. If there are more, it says so above the numbers, and every number covers only those 500. It does not guess at the rest.

Can it read my Watch later or Liked videos?

No. Those two lists are private to your account and this tool has no sign-in, so YouTube will not hand them over. Copy the videos into a public or unlisted playlist and paste that link. A private playlist fails the same way.

Where are my ticks and skips kept?

In this browser only, under the playlist's id. They are not sent to Playback and do not follow you to another device, and clearing the site's data removes them. There is a button under the list to clear them too.

Does YouTube play at 2.5x or 3x?

YouTube's standard speed menu runs from 0.25x to 2x. The rows above 2x are there for players that go faster, and as a planning number.

How accurate is the total?

It adds the lengths YouTube reports, to the second, as they stood within the last hour. Ads, pauses and rewinds are not in it, so real viewing runs a little longer.

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