Guide
An edit ratio compares footage recorded against runtime that survives
An edit ratio is the amount of raw footage recorded for every unit of finished runtime. Record three minutes and publish thirty seconds and the ratio is six to one. It is the honest measure of how much cutting a format takes, and it varies more between formats than most people expect. This page covers the arithmetic and the typical ranges.
- Three recorded minutes into a thirty second final
- 6:1
- A live stream, by definition
- 1:1
- The source ceiling per take in Cutroom
- 3 min
The arithmetic, and what counts as raw
Divide the length of everything recorded by the length of the finished video. Ninety recorded seconds into a thirty second final is 3:1.
Everything recorded counts: the false starts, the restarted sentences, the take you abandoned halfway. That is the point of the measure, because those seconds cost recording time even though they never ship.
Stock footage and library b-roll do not count. The ratio measures your recording effort, and footage you searched for was never rolling on your camera.
The raw minutes behind the same thirty second video
Same finished length, three different recording sessions. The ratio is the honest cost of the format.
- 2:1, a clean scripted read1 min raw
- 4:1, a normal session2 min raw
- 6:1, thinking out loud3 min raw
Typical ranges, format by format
A live stream is 1:1 by definition, because nothing is cut. A practised scripted read lands near 2:1, since only the flubs go.
Conversational short-form, where the speaker finds the sentence while saying it, commonly runs 4:1 to 6:1. Documentary interview work runs far higher, because hours are shot to find minutes.
None of these is a grade. A high ratio means the format involves discovery on camera, and the trimming afterwards is exactly the craft the format requires.
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
What your own ratio is telling you
A rising ratio on the same format usually means under-preparation: the list of points was not written before recording. A one-line prompt per take pulls it back down.
A ratio near 1:1 on spoken short-form is its own warning. It usually means the pauses and false starts are still in the finished video.
Cutroom's source ceiling makes the arithmetic concrete: a take tops out at three minutes, so a thirty second ad tops out at 6:1, and the cutting inside that ratio is the machine's job rather than an evening of yours.
Questions people ask
- Is a low edit ratio better?
- It is cheaper, not better. A low ratio means less was cut, which is good discipline on a scripted read and a warning sign on conversational content, where the cutting is what makes it watchable.
- What ratio should a beginner expect?
- Higher than a practised speaker, and that is fine. Restarted sentences are the cheapest mistake in video. The ratio falls on its own as the list-per-take habit forms.
- Does a higher ratio mean more editing work?
- On a timeline, yes, roughly linearly, because someone scrubs through all of it. With transcript-based cutting the raw length matters much less, since the removals are text operations rather than listening passes.
Measure the recording, not just the result. Six to one is not waste, it is what thinking out loud costs, and the trimming is the part a machine does well.