Providing the duration of a video helps set clear expectations for viewers, allowing them to gauge how long it will take to watch and improving overall engagement. Consistently using a standardized format for hours, minutes, and seconds ensures clarity, making it easy for audiences to quickly understand and trust the presented information.
The following table shows the right format for writing video time lengths (hours, minutes, seconds) on the web.
| Duration | Correct format | ❌ Bad examples | ✅ Good examples |
| Less than 1 minute | {{x}} sec | 30s / 30secs / 30 secs | 30 sec |
| 1 to 59 minutes | {{x}} min | 25m / 25mins / 25 mins | 25 min |
| 1 hour | {{x}} hr | 60 mins / 1 hour / 1h 00m | 1 hr |
| More than 1 hour | {{x}} hr {{x}} min | 3h 05m / 3h5min / 3h 5m 10s / 3 hrs 5 mins | 3 hr 5 min |
Notes:
For a real example of displaying a video time length, see this rule on being a good Product Owner.