Podcast Speed Calculator
How long is a 1 hour podcast at 1.5x speed? Enter any podcast or audiobook length, choose your speed, and instantly see the new listening time and time you save. Works for Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Overcast, and more.
Paste a duration instead (mm:ss or hh:mm:ss)
Podcast Speed Comparison Table
See your episode at every common speed.
| Speed | New duration | Time saved |
|---|---|---|
| Enter an episode length to see the table. | ||
Podcast & Audiobook Speed Guide
Why listen to podcasts at faster speeds?
The average person speaks at 130–150 words per minute, but can comprehend speech up to 300+ wpm. Speeding up podcasts lets you consume more content without losing understanding. Many regular podcast listeners use 1.5x–2x as their default.
Speed support by platform
- Spotify — 0.5x to 3.5x (podcasts only, not music)
- Apple Podcasts — 0.5x to 2x
- Overcast — custom speed + Smart Speed (silence trimming)
- Pocket Casts — 0.5x to 3x + trim silence
- Audible — 0.5x to 3.5x for audiobooks
- Google Podcasts — 0.5x to 3x
How much time can you save per week?
If you listen to 5 hours of podcasts per week at 1.5x speed, you finish in 3 hours 20 minutes — saving 1 hour 40 minutes every week. That's over 86 hours saved per year.
At 2x speed, you'd save 2.5 hours per week — over 130 hours per year. That's like gaining an extra 5.4 days.
Best speed for audiobooks vs. podcasts
- Conversational podcasts: 1.5x–2x works great — dialogue is easy to follow at speed
- Interview/news podcasts: 1.25x–1.75x — varies by speaker clarity
- Audiobooks (fiction): 1.25x–1.5x — preserves the narrator's performance
- Audiobooks (non-fiction): 1.5x–2x — information-dense content still comes through