Video Edit Hours Calculator

Use this to get a conservative hour estimate before you price post-production work. It is meant for one narrow job: planning edit hours for a video project addressing revisions, captions, and format versioning.

It is not a universal industry standard, and it is not trying to tell you what to charge. It is a practical starting point you can adjust against your own actuals. Fill out the primary inputs below, or expand the advanced options if your scope contains complex approvals or captions.

What moves the estimate fastest

Most post-production quotes go wrong for the exact same reasons. It is rarely the first edit that eats your margin—it is the work around the work:

• Deliverable explosion: Having more than two final target exports.
• Aspect-ratio variation: Designing vertical (9:16), landscape (16:9), and square (1:1) crops that each require separate re-framing, re-centering, safe-zone checks, and renders.
• Audio transcription and burn-in captions: Setting up auto transcription sounds simple but script formatting, timed margins, and visual placements take dedicated edit hours.
• Fragmented feedback loops: Receiving comments from multiple individuals sequentially instead of a centralized, decision-capable lead.

How the math works under the hood

The heuristic calculation isolates prep work, finishing tasks, output ratios, and feedback styles distinctly. Rather than estimating using a simple linear hours-per-minute multiplier, we build the calculation constructively:

Phase Dimension	Standard Formula Heuristics	Why It Matters
Prep & Assembly	Source Hours × Complexity Multiplier	Reviews, organizes, builds primary selects timeline. Multipliers scale from Social (0.9) to Heavy Motion (2.4).
Finish & Polish	Runtime Minutes × Complexity Multiplier	Color grading, sound sweetening, pacing tweaks. Standard interviews use 2.0x, heavy animations up to 3.5x.
Versioning Overhead	35% base rate per additional deliverable	The first master handles heavy lifting; additional variants take 35% effort for outputs, title matching, and QC.
Multi-Ratio Crops	Ratios × Deliverables × Complexity Rate	Catering for layout shifts. Ranges from 0.8h (social trims) to 1.9h (heavy motion adjustments) per target export.
Caption Timing	Auto adjustment (0.35h / run-min) or burn-in subtitle styling (0.60h / run-min)	Reviewing accessibility. Burned-in styles require manual timing tweaks, custom fonts, and safe-margin checks.
Revision Reserve	Base Hours × Rounds × 10% × Feedback Multiplier	Fragmented feedback applies an automatic 1.35x strain factor on your client modification loops.

Use this as a planning number

If you already know your own edit pace, treat this calculator as a sanity check before sending a fixed bid. You might find it useful to cross-reference your quote concepts with some of our other guides. Check out estimating project hours before you quote to calculate risk buffers, or see why spreadsheets fail agencies in pricing complex creative projects.

If scope is still shifting or the client only has a messy, unclear requirements brief, read how to turn a messy brief into a clean quote workflow.

FAQ

Is this a pricing calculator?

No. It estimates hours, not client rates or software markup. Once you have a clean hours estimate, use your studio’s internal hourly rate + margin logic to establish the target price.

Why does the feedback style change the final number?

If reviews are fragmented, you spend more time chasing stakeholder consensus, resolving conflicting directions, and handling endless tiny changes. Factoring a 1.35x strain into the revision reserve helps defend your margin on high-touch projects.

Should I show this detailed calculation to my client?

Usually, no. Lead with the total scope, milestones, and deliverables. Keep these hour allocations in your back pocket so that if a client asks "Why does this cost that?", you can explain the exact complexity mechanics behind your quote.