Frame rate is the number of still images, or frames, a camera records or a screen shows each second, written as fps. Most projects land on one of three: 24 fps for a film look, 30 fps (29.97 in North American video) for web and broadcast work, and 60 fps for fast motion or footage you plan to slow down. Pick it before you shoot and lock your timeline to match, because changing it later can shift every edit point, music cuts included.
This guide covers what each common rate is for, why 23.976 and 29.97 exist, the shutter rule, slow-motion math, what frame rate does to your music, and how to handle mixed rates in one edit.
Set the frame rate. Then cut the music.
Timeline locked? Now find the track that fits your cut, from a library of 120k tracks.
What is a frame rate?
Frame rate measures how many individual frames make up one second of video, expressed in frames per second (fps). A 24 fps clip holds 24 still images per second; a 60 fps clip holds 60. Higher rates capture motion in finer steps and look smoother. Lower rates carry more motion blur per frame and read as more filmic.
Two numbers matter: the capture rate (what the camera records) and the playback rate (what the timeline plays). Match them and motion plays at normal speed. Capture higher than playback and you get slow motion. For the rest of the vocabulary, see our rundown of video editing terms.
Common frame rates and what each one is for
Video work uses a short list of standard frame rates: 23.976 and 24 for cinema and film-look content, 25 and 50 where a delivery spec calls for them, 29.97 and 30 for North American video and most web content, 59.94 and 60 for fast motion and sports, and 120 or higher for slow motion.
Shooting on a phone? Check the default before you roll; our iPhone filmmaking tips show where it lives.
Why 23.976 and 29.97 exist
The fractional rates 23.976 and 29.97 are 24 and 30 slowed by 0.1 percent, exactly 24000/1001 and 30000/1001 frames per second. They exist so film-rate and broadcast-rate material line up with North American video timing, and editing software still treats them as separate rates from whole-number 24 and 30.
Going from 24 fps film to 29.97 fps NTSC video isn't a clean conversion, so many HD cameras record at 23.976, which Steinberg's pull-down reference describes as 24 fps pulled down 0.1 percent. SMPTE's time code standard lists both families (writing 23.976 as 23.98) and includes a drop frame mode. Treat 23.976 and 24 as different rates, and confirm which one your camera wrote to the file.
How frame rate and shutter speed work together
Shutter speed controls how long each frame is exposed, so it sets how much motion blur every frame carries. The cinema convention is a 180-degree shutter, an exposure of half the frame interval: about 1/48 second at 24 fps, 1/50 at 25 fps and 1/60 at 30 fps.
RED's shutter angle guide calls a shutter near 180 degrees by far the most common setting for cinema. The math: shutter speed equals 1 divided by (frame rate × 360 ÷ shutter angle). Smaller angles look crisper and more stuttered, closer to old newsreels. Larger angles smear.
How to choose a frame rate for your project
Choose a frame rate by working back from delivery. Match the rate the platform or client expects, shoot at that rate for normal-speed footage, shoot at two to five times that rate for anything you'll slow down, and set the editing timeline to the delivery rate before importing media.
The YouTube row comes from YouTube's recommended upload settings, which list 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 as common rates and treat 48, 50 and 60 as high frame rate. Lock frame rate before the shoot, along with aspect ratio.
Shooting for slow motion: the math
Slow motion comes from playing frames back slower than they were captured. Footage shot at 60 fps on a 24 fps timeline plays at 40 percent speed, 2.5 times slower; 120 fps on a 24 fps timeline plays at 20 percent, five times slower. Shooting at the timeline rate and slowing in post forces the editor to repeat or invent frames.
Didn't shoot high? Final Cut Pro can build in-between frames with frame blending, optical flow or a machine-learning option, and Apple suggests starting with frame blending and moving up only if you see artifacts.
For the track itself, we've rounded up music for slow motion video.
What frame rate does to your audio and music edit
Picture and audio drift apart when they run at rates 0.1 percent apart, such as 24 and 23.976. The gap grows by roughly 1.4 frames every minute at 24 fps, about 3.6 seconds over an hour. Changing a timeline's frame rate after cutting can also shift edit points, which moves music cuts off the beat.
Audio has no frames, so it keeps playing in real time while picture plays at whatever rate it's set to. A mismatch doesn't break anything right away. It slides. Production sound recorded at 48 kHz stays in sync only when picture runs at the matching speed, which is why audio post tools such as Nuendo carry 0.1 percent pull-up and pull-down options.
The bigger risk is self-inflicted. Apple's Final Cut Pro documentation warns that changing a project's frame rate can shift all the edit points in time, and if you've cut music to picture, those are your beat-matched cuts. Lock frame rate and sample rate together at the start (our 48kHz vs 44.1kHz breakdown covers the audio side), and if sync still slips, here's how to edit sound in a video.
Mixing frame rates in one edit
Editing software resolves mixed frame rates by conforming every clip to the timeline rate. It either repeats or drops frames, blends neighboring frames, or generates new frames with optical flow. Clips that divide evenly into the timeline rate, like 48 into 24, conform cleanly. Uneven pairs like 25 into 24 or 29.97 into 24 are where stutter shows up.
In Final Cut Pro's conform settings, the first video clip you add sets the project's frame rate, and you pick a frame-sampling method for clips that don't match. In DaVinci Resolve, the project frame rate locks once you import media. Cutting in stock b-roll? Here's how to make stock video match your footage.
How to set your timeline frame rate before you edit
- Check the frame rate of your source clips
On a Mac, QuickTime Player's Movie Inspector (Command-I) shows a video's frame rate.
- Choose the delivery frame rate
For YouTube, that's the rate you recorded. For a client, it's whatever the delivery spec says.
- Set the timeline rate before importing media
DaVinci Resolve won't change the project rate once media is in, and Final Cut Pro takes it from the first video clip you add.
- Conform clips that don't match
Pick how the editor resamples each off-rate clip. Frame repeating is fastest; frame blending and optical flow smooth stutter, and optical flow needs rendering.
- Lock the rate before cutting music
Changing a project's frame rate later can shift every edit point, which knocks music cuts off the beat.
Slow motion needs the right pace.
Shooting at 120 fps for slow motion? Find music with the pacing to carry it across 120k tracks.
Frequently asked questions
Neither is better across the board. 24fps gives the film look, with a 180-degree shutter of about 1/48 second adding natural motion blur. 60fps captures fast motion more crisply and can be slowed to 40 percent speed on a 24fps timeline.
Because 24fps has been the standard frame rate for sound film since the late 1920s, and the film look is built around its motion blur. Higher rates such as 48fps are supported in SMPTE's time code standard.
30fps (or 29.97) suits most talking-head and web video. 60fps suits sports, fast action and footage you want to slow down, but it costs data: YouTube recommends 8 Mbps for 1080p uploads at 24, 25 or 30fps and 12 Mbps at 48, 50 or 60fps.
Check the file's metadata. On a Mac, open the clip in QuickTime Player and press Command-I for the Movie Inspector.
Not if the footage has fast motion or you plan to slow it down, since 60fps on a 24fps timeline plays at 40 percent speed. For talking heads and static shots it mostly adds data: YouTube recommends 35 to 45 Mbps for 4K uploads at standard frame rates and 53 to 68 Mbps at high frame rates.
