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Course Recording Time Budget Calculator
Estimate the total hours you'll need to record and edit an online course, and how many weeks that takes at your available hours per week.
Accounts for flubbed takes and re-recording. 1.0 = perfect first take every time (unrealistic); 2.0+ if you're new to recording.
Typical range is 3–6× for cut-and-polish editing with captions; higher for heavy motion graphics.
Estimate only. Actual time varies a lot by editing skill, how heavily you script beforehand, and whether you're adding graphics, quizzes, or captions.
Why editing takes longer than recording
Course creators new to video consistently underestimate editing time. Cutting dead air, fixing audio levels, adding captions, and inserting on-screen text or graphics typically takes 3 to 6 times the length of the final video — a 10-minute lesson can easily mean 30–60 minutes of editing. Budgeting for this up front avoids the common trap of finishing recording on schedule and then blowing the launch date during edit.