Frame Rate Converter

Frame rate (FPS, frames per second) determines how smooth motion looks in a video. Cinema is traditionally 24 FPS, broadcast TV is 30 or 60, gaming targets 60-144, and slow-motion footage is captured at 120-240 then played back at 30-60 to create the slow-mo effect. Converting between frame rates is a common task — for matching platform requirements, reducing file size, smoothing low-FPS footage, or syncing multiple clips.

Simple vs Smooth

Simple mode uses FFmpeg's built-in frame rate filter, which drops frames when going to a lower rate and duplicates them when going higher. It's fast (close to real-time) and produces predictable results. The downside: going from a lower FPS to a higher FPS in Simple mode doesn't actually make motion smoother — it just plays the same frames repeated.

Smooth mode uses FFmpeg's minterpolate filter with motion-compensated interpolation. It analyzes motion between consecutive frames and constructs synthetic in-between frames — giving a genuine smoothness boost when upsampling (24 → 60 FPS, for example). This is the same technique TVs use for "motion smoothing," and it can produce striking results. The cost: it's 10-50x slower than real-time and memory-intensive, hence the file size and duration caps.

Common conversions

• 60 → 30 FPS — halve file size for sharing. Use Simple mode.
• 25 → 30 FPS — PAL to NTSC. Simple mode is fine; Smooth gives slightly better motion.
• 24 → 60 FPS — smooth out cinematic footage. Use Smooth mode.
• 120 → 30 FPS — high-speed capture to standard playback (no slow-motion effect; for that, change the timebase instead). Use Simple mode.
• 30 → 24 FPS — give footage a cinematic feel. Simple mode.

Need to also trim or convert format?

Pair this tool with our Video Trimmer to cut a clip before processing, or our MP4 to GIF converter to turn the result into a shareable GIF.