Timecode calculator

29.97 fps video runs 0.1% slower than 30 fps, so counting 30 frames a second drifts from the clock by about 3.6 seconds an hour. Drop-frame timecode skips frame numbers 00 and 01 at the start of every minute except every tenth minute, which keeps the timecode within a frame of real time. No frames are dropped from the video; only labels are skipped. At 59.94 four numbers are skipped.

Type it with colons or semicolons (01:00:10:12 or 01:00:10;12), or type just the digits like in an editing app: 1012 means 00:00:10:12 and 1000000 means 01:00:00:00. Put a minus sign in front for a negative duration.

At 23.976, 29.97 and 59.94 fps a timecode second is 1.001 real seconds, so one hour of non-drop timecode lasts 3,603.6 seconds. Drop-frame timecode stays close to real time, and at 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps timecode and real time match exactly.

It is the timecode that points at the same moment on the clock at the other frame rate, rounded to the nearest frame. Use it when a cut made at one rate has to be found again in a copy at another rate.