Transcripts made for reading count seconds from zero. An edit timeline counts frames, at the project’s frame rate, from a start timecode that is rarely zero. Three settings close that gap.
1. Frame rate
Use the frame rate of the sequence you edit in:
| Frame rate | Used for | Timecode counts |
|---|---|---|
| 23.976 | Film look, most streaming | 24 frames per second, slightly slower than the clock |
| 24 | Cinema | 24 frames per second |
| 25 | PAL, Europe, much of Asia | 25 frames per second |
| 29.97 | NTSC, North America | 30 frames per second, drop-frame or non-drop |
| 30 | Web and phone video | 30 frames per second |
2. Drop-frame at 29.97
At 29.97 fps a timecode that counts 30 frames every second falls behind real time by about 3.6 seconds per hour. Drop-frame timecode skips the frame numbers 00 and 01 at the start of every minute except every tenth minute, which keeps the label in step with the clock. It is written with a semicolon before the frames: 01:00:00;00. Match whatever your project is set to.
3. Start timecode
Most edit sequences start at 01:00:00:00. Camera files carry the time of day or a reel timecode, such as 14:32:10:05. Enter the timecode of the first frame of the file you transcribed, and every timecode in the transcript is shifted by that amount.
Steps
- Drop the file on the timecode transcript generator and transcribe it.
- Choose HH:MM:SS:FF, the frame rate, and drop-frame if you need it.
- Enter the start timecode, or press 01:00:00:00.
- Choose how often a timecode appears: every sentence is easiest to edit with.
- Download TXT or DOCX for paper edits, CSV for a logging sheet, or SRT for captions on the same timeline.
Changing any of these settings relabels the transcript at once. Nothing is transcribed again, and no minutes are used.