How to see the total length of a YouTube playlist

YouTube tells you how many videos are in a playlist and how long each one is, but it has never shown the total. Here are the ways to get it, from fastest to most manual.

1. Paste the link into a calculator (30 seconds)

1. Open the playlist on YouTube.
2. Copy the address. It looks like https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL…. A link to a video inside the playlist (watch?v=…&list=PL…) works too.
3. Paste it into the calculator. It calculates as soon as you paste.

You get the total, the average video length, the longest and shortest video, watch time at 1.25×, 1.5×, 1.75× and 2×, a per-video table you can sort, and a planner that turns the total into a finish date.

On a phone: in the YouTube app, open the playlist, tap the share icon, choose Copy link, then paste it into the calculator in your browser. Playlist links from the app are the same format as desktop links.

Playlists that don't work: private playlists (only the owner can see them), Watch Later and Liked videos (private to your account), and Mixes (list=RD…, generated per viewer). Unlisted playlists work fine as long as you have the link.

2. By hand, from the playlist page

Workable for anything under about 15 videos.

1. Open the playlist page. Each row shows the video length in the bottom-right corner of the thumbnail.
2. Write the lengths down as minutes and seconds, or just minutes if you don't need precision.
3. Add them. Tip: add the minutes first, then the seconds, then carry.

Example: 12:04 + 8:31 + 25:10 + 14:59 → minutes 12+8+25+14 = 59, seconds 4+31+10+59 = 104 = 1:44 → 1 h 0 m 44 s.

Videos marked Private video or Deleted video have no length; skip them. Note that YouTube hides unavailable videos by default in some views — the "N videos" count at the top may be higher than the rows you can see.

3. A browser extension

Several Chrome extensions add the total under the playlist title on youtube.com itself. They're convenient if you're always on desktop Chrome. Downsides: another extension with access to youtube.com, no way to share the result, and none of them plan a schedule. We're building one that links back to the full result page — see the roadmap.

4. A spreadsheet

If you're going to track the course anyway, a sheet with one row per video is worth having. The fastest way to fill it is to use the calculator's per-video table: copy it, paste it into Google Sheets or Excel, and sum the length column (paste durations as h:mm:ss text and Sheets will treat them as durations if you format the column as Duration).

Then add a "done" column and a =SUMIF(done, FALSE, length) for the remaining time. That's the same thing the calculator's watched checkboxes do, without the spreadsheet — tracking progress →

5. The YouTube Data API (for developers)

If you need totals for many playlists, or inside your own app, go to the source. Two calls — playlistItems.list to get the video IDs and videos.list to get their durations (returned as ISO 8601 strings like PT1H2M3S) — and a bit of parsing. A playlist of 500 videos costs about 21 quota units out of a free daily budget of 10,000. Full walkthrough with code and quota maths: YouTube playlist duration API →. We also offer a JSON endpoint that does the work for you.

Which one should you use?

Common questions

Can I see the length of a playlist in the YouTube app? No. Neither the app nor the website shows a total. Copy the link and use a calculator.

Does the total include ads? No. Ads depend on your account and region and aren't part of the videos. If you watch with ads, budget roughly 10–20% extra for a playlist of short videos, less for long lectures.

Why does the total change between days? The creator added, removed or hid videos, or a video became unavailable. Results are cached for up to 24 hours, so you may see the previous day's numbers briefly.

Can I get the length of only part of the playlist? Yes — set a range (for example videos 10 to 25) on the result page. The totals and the planner update for that range only.