The YouTube playlist length calculator
How long is that YouTube playlist?
Paste a playlist, video or channel link. Get the total watch time, speed-adjusted estimates, and a plan to finish it.
Any speed, 0.25× to 4× · A study plan with a finish date, in your calendar · Tick what you've watched · Up to 5,000 videos · Channels and YouTube Music too
Or try CS50P (Harvard) C++ DSA (Love Babbar) MIT 6.100L a whole channel
CS50P — Harvard, 11 videos
Example15h 54m
- 1.25×12h 43m
- 1.5×10h 36m
- 1.75×9h 5m
- 2×7h 57m
- Introduction4:17
- Lecture 0 - Functions, Variables1:45:38
- Lecture 1 - Conditionals56:08
- Lecture 2 - Loops1:20:47
- Lecture 3 - Exceptions44:36
- Lecture 4 - Libraries1:17:29
November 2026
Your study plan14 sessions. You finish on Thursday, November 26.
Add to calendarHow it works
Three steps, no sign-up.
1. Paste
Any YouTube link: a playlist URL, a watch?v= URL, youtu.be short links, or @channel handles.
2. See the total
Every video's duration added up, with the average, longest and shortest, and how long it takes at 1.25×, 1.5×, 1.75× and 2×.
3. Finish it
Tick videos as you watch — the remaining time updates and your progress stays in your browser. Share the result with one link.
What you get
Everything YouTube doesn't tell you.
YouTube shows the length of each video, never the total. For a 40-lecture course that is 40 numbers to add up.
The real total
Every video's length added up, with the average, the longest and the shortest, and a list you can sort by length, up to 5,000 videos.
Any speed
Any speed from 0.25× to 4×, with 1.25×, 1.5×, 1.75× and 2× one click away. Every number on the page follows.
A plan with dates
Minutes a day and the days you study become dated sessions and a finish date, in your own calendar.
Progress that stays
Tick what you've watched, or count from any video; the remaining time updates. Saved in your browser, no account.
Side-by-side
Paste up to five playlists and compare hours, videos and lesson length.
Badge & API
A live badge for your README, and every total as JSON — free, no key.
Why us
Why Playlist Duration
Built for finishing a course, not only for counting it. Free, with no account, and your progress stays in your browser.
- A plan you can follow. Turn any playlist into dated study sessions, add them to your calendar, tick what you've watched and see what's left.
- Help choosing the course. More than 20 ranked lists of free courses, from Python to the CCNA, with live totals.
- Right on YouTube. Extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge show the total on YouTube itself, next to the playlist.
Best free courses
Not sure which course to start?
We keep lists of complete, free courses with their real total hours. All lists →
Python
Corey Schafer, CS50P, MIT, CodeWithHarry, Bro Code
JavaScript
Namaste JavaScript, Net Ninja, Traversy Media, Chai aur Code
Machine learning
Stanford CS229, StatQuest, MIT 6.S191, CampusX
Data structures & algorithms
Striver's A2Z, Apna College, Love Babbar, Abdul Bari
Excel
Kevin Stratvert, Leila Gharani, excelisfun, MyOnlineTrainingHub
From our lists
How long is a typical YouTube course?
is the median length of a complete YouTube course.
Across the 303 courses in our lists, the median is 23 hours. The shortest runs 1 hour; the longest is 195 hours — 9,713 hours of teaching between them. That spread is the real answer to "how long is a YouTube course": anything from one afternoon to a month of evenings.
At an hour a day the median course takes about 23 days, or 15 at 1.5×. Paste your own playlist above to get the same numbers for it, or browse the lists by total hours.
Speed
How much time does watching at 1.5× or 2× actually save?
Faster playback scales linearly: a course takes its length divided by the speed. What changes is whether you keep up. Here is the arithmetic for four common course lengths.
| Course | 1.25× | 1.5× | 1.75× | 2× | Saved at 2× |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 hours | 4h | 3h 20m | 2h 51m | 2h 30m | 2h 30m |
| 10 hours | 8h | 6h 40m | 5h 43m | 5h | 5h |
| 20 hours | 16h | 13h 20m | 11h 26m | 10h | 10h |
| 40 hours | 32h | 26h 40m | 22h 51m | 20h | 20h |
Two hours saved on a 40-hour course sounds small until you notice it is 20 hours — most of a working week. Whether that costs you anything depends on the material: research on lecture playback finds comprehension holds up well to about 1.5× and starts to slip past 2×, and dense or unfamiliar subjects slip sooner. All guides →
Why it exists
Why use this instead of counting by hand?
YouTube shows the length of each video but never the total for a playlist. For a 40-lecture course that means 40 numbers to add up. This page does it in one request, keeps the result at a permanent link you can share, and — unlike other calculators — doesn't stop at 500 videos, doesn't gate the result behind an ad, and lets you mark what you've already watched.
Use cases
What people use this for
- Deciding whether to start a course. A "complete Python course" can be 6 hours or 60. Knowing which before you begin is the difference between finishing and abandoning it in week two.
- Choosing between two courses. Paste both and compare them side by side — total hours, video count and average lesson length, which tells you whether it is 20 tight lessons or 200 fragments.
- Working backwards from a deadline. Exam in three weeks? The planner turns a total into minutes per day, or tells you the speed that fits the time you actually have.
- Fitting study into a commute. Average video length matters more than the total when your slot is 25 minutes each way.
- Teaching and course design. Check how much material you are really assigning before you set it as homework.
- Sizing up a channel. Paste a channel link for the total runtime of every upload — useful for anyone deciding whether to work through a back catalogue.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How do I find the total length of a YouTube playlist?
Paste the playlist link above. We add up the duration of every video and show the total, the average, and how long it takes at 1.25×, 1.5×, 1.75× and 2× speed.
Does it work for channels and single videos?
Yes. Paste a channel link to total all its uploads, or a video link for one video. You can paste up to five links at once.
Does it work with YouTube Music?
Yes. Paste a link from music.youtube.com, for a playlist or an album, and you get the same total, speeds and plan. YouTube Music playlist length
Can I measure my Watch Later or Liked videos?
Not directly. Those lists are private to your account, and YouTube doesn't share them with other sites. Save the videos you want to a new playlist, set it to Public or Unlisted, and paste that link.
Is there a limit on playlist size?
We count up to 5,000 videos, which is YouTube's own maximum for a playlist.
Why is the total different from what I expected?
Private, deleted or region-blocked videos can't be measured. They're shown as unavailable and left out of the total so the number stays honest.
Where do the numbers come from?
Every length comes from the YouTube Data API, not from estimates. We add up each available video, leave out private, deleted and region-blocked ones and show how many, and the page says when the data was read.
Do I need an account?
No. Nothing to sign up for, and your watched progress is stored only in your browser.
How do I work out watch time at 1.5× or 2×?
Divide the total by the speed: a 10-hour course is 6 hours 40 minutes at 1.5× and 5 hours at 2×. The table on this page does it for you.
Can I see how much of a playlist is left?
Yes. Tick videos as you watch and the remaining time and finish date update. To count from a particular video, set the range to start there.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Copy the playlist link from the YouTube app's Share menu and paste it here — the table, the planner and the watched ticks all work on mobile.
Can I see how long a playlist is without opening every video?
That's the whole point. YouTube shows each video's length but never the total, so a 40-video course means 40 numbers to add up by hand. Paste the link once instead.
Does it work for private or unlisted playlists?
Unlisted playlists work if you have the link, and those pages are never indexed by search engines. Private playlists can't be read by anyone but their owner.
Can I turn a playlist into a study schedule?
Yes. Set minutes per day and which days you study, and the planner lays out dated sessions you can export to a calendar.
Is it free, and are there limits?
Free, with no account and no paywall. The public API allows 60 requests a minute per IP.
Is there an API or a badge for my README?
Yes, both are free. The API returns totals and every video as JSON with no key, and there is a live badge for READMEs and course descriptions.
Can I just change the URL?
Yes. Swap youtube.com for playlistduration.com in any YouTube link — a playlist, a video or a channel — and you land on the matching page here.
Guides
From the guides
How long is YKS preparation on YouTube? 15 free courses, measured
We timed 15 free TYT and AYT courses on YouTube. Sayısal AYT takes 244 to 334 hours; 90 Günde AYT Matematik is 119 hours, 79 minutes a day for 90 days.
7 min readHow long does it take to learn Java on YouTube? 12 free courses, measured
We timed 12 free Java courses on YouTube. Beginner courses take 12 to 29 hours: Bro Code 12, Telusko 16, CodeWithHarry 29. Kunal Kushwaha's Java + DSA is 80.
7 min readHow long is UPSC preparation on YouTube? 14 free courses, measured
We timed 14 free UPSC courses on YouTube. One course per GS subject is 430 hours, polity alone 111; CSAT adds 33. At 1.5× and 3 hours a day, about 3½ months.
8 min readHow long does it take to learn Excel on YouTube? 10 free courses, measured
We timed 10 free Excel courses on YouTube. The beginner ones take 2 to 6 hours, excelisfun's job-ready basics 12, and the full Power BI class 30.
7 min readHow long does it take to learn Python on YouTube? 9 free courses, measured
We timed 9 free Python courses on YouTube. Most take 9 to 19 hours: Bro Code 14, CS50P 16, Mosh 19. Corey Schafer's 87-hour playlist is a library, not a course.
6 min readHow long is GATE CSE preparation on YouTube? 20 free courses, measured
We timed 20 free GATE CSE courses on YouTube. An in-depth course per subject is 670 hours; Gate Smashers covers it all in 143, an hour a day for 3 months.
6 min readHow long is JEE preparation on YouTube? 13 free courses, measured
We timed 13 JEE courses on YouTube. The full Competishun course is 1,072 hours: physics 379, chemistry 380, maths 313. At 1.5×, an hour a day for two years.
6 min readHow long is KPSS preparation on YouTube? 11 free courses, measured
We timed 11 free KPSS courses on YouTube. One konu anlatımı course per subject is 334 hours: Tarih 127, Matematik 71, Coğrafya 55, Vatandaşlık 46, Türkçe 35.
7 min readHow long to study for CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ on YouTube? 10 courses measured
We timed 10 free CompTIA courses on YouTube. Professor Messer's A+ is 24 hours over both cores, Network+ 13, Security+ 15: all three in 52 hours.
6 min readHow long does it take to learn DSA on YouTube? 10 free courses, measured
We timed 10 free DSA courses on YouTube. Striver's A2Z is 115 hours, Love Babbar's C++ course 96, Apna College's 70. At 1.5×, an hour a day, A2Z is 11 weeks.
6 min readHow long is a free YouTube course? Hours by subject, from 267 courses
We measured 267 free YouTube courses on 24 lists. The typical one runs 24 hours: Excel and SQL about 10, university subjects 25 to 30, JEE near 100.
6 min readWhy your playlist length calculator stops at 100 videos
Many playlist length tools add up only the first 100 videos and never say so. Why, how to spot a cut-off total, and a 455-hour course that came out as 91.
5 min readHow to finish a YouTube course before your exam date
Work back from your exam date to the hours a day a playlist needs, with measured lengths of real UPSC, JEE and NEET series, and what to do if it's impossible.
6 min readAdd a YouTube course to your calendar (Google, Apple, Outlook)
Turn a playlist into calendar sessions, one event per study day, and import the .ics file into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook.
5 min readHow long does it take to watch a YouTube playlist?
The quick answer, the maths behind it, what changes at 1.5× or 2×, and how many days a playlist really takes at an hour a day.
4 min readHow to finish a long YouTube course (a schedule that survives week two)
A step-by-step way to turn a 30-, 50- or 100-hour playlist into daily sessions you'll finish, with a worked example and the mistakes that sink most plans.
5 min readHow to see the total length of a YouTube playlist
Five ways to get a playlist's total duration — a calculator, by hand, an extension, a spreadsheet or the API — with exact steps on desktop and mobile.
4 min read