Seconds to Minutes Converter

How to convert seconds to minutes

The second is the SI base unit of time, defined since 1967 by 9,192,631,770 oscillations of radiation from the cesium-133 atom. A minute is exactly 60 of those seconds, so converting is division by 60: 240 s ÷ 60 = 4 min. The time converter takes the same seconds on to hours, days and years.

When the seconds do not divide evenly, you get decimal minutes, and they are easy to misread. 2.5 minutes is 2 minutes 30 seconds, not 2 minutes 50 seconds, because 0.5 of a minute is 30 seconds. Stopwatches, music players and race results use the minutes:seconds format instead (2:30), which you get by keeping the whole minutes and turning the remainder back into seconds. For longer spans, continue with the minutes to hours converter or the hours to minutes converter.

Step by step

1. Take the number of seconds.
2. Divide by 60 to get decimal minutes.
3. For minutes:seconds, keep the whole minutes and multiply the decimal part by 60 (or take the remainder after dividing by 60).
4. Write the seconds with two digits: 3:05, not 3:5.

See it on a scale

What is the difference between decimal minutes and minutes:seconds?

Decimal minutes split a minute into tenths and hundredths, while minutes:seconds counts the leftover seconds out of 60, so 2.5 minutes and 2:30 describe the same 150 seconds.

The two formats are easy to mix up because both use a separator. 3.75 minutes (decimal) and 3:45 (minutes:seconds) are the same length of time, 225 seconds. But 3.45 minutes is only 207 seconds, or 3:27. To move between them:

• m:ss to seconds: minutes × 60 + seconds. 3:45 → 3 × 60 + 45 = 225 s.
• Seconds to decimal minutes: divide by 60. 225 ÷ 60 = 3.75 min.
• Decimal minutes to m:ss: keep the whole minutes and multiply the decimal by 60. 3.75 → 3 min and 0.75 × 60 = 45 s → 3:45.

Microwaves and timers

Many microwave keypads read the digits as minutes and seconds, so typing 1-3-0 runs for 1:30 (90 seconds), not 130 seconds. Some models also accept 90 as 90 seconds, so 90 and 130 can give the same result. Kitchen timers and phone timers always display m:ss.

How do you break a large number of seconds into hours, minutes and seconds?

Take out whole hours first, at 3,600 s each, then whole minutes at 60 s each; whatever is left over is the seconds.

Large second counts, such as a video's length or a program's run time, are easier to read as hours, minutes and seconds. Divide in two stages:

1. Divide by 3,600 to get whole hours: 10,000 ÷ 3,600 = 2, remainder 2,800 s.
2. Divide the remainder by 60 for minutes: 2,800 ÷ 60 = 46, remainder 40 s.
3. Put it together: 10,000 s = 2 h 46 min 40 s, or 2:46:40.

Seconds in larger units

• 1 minute = 60 s
• 1 hour = 3,600 s
• 1 day = 86,400 s
• 1 week = 604,800 s
• 1 common year (365 days) = 31,536,000 s

In a spreadsheet, a number of seconds divided by 86,400 becomes a fraction of a day, which you can format as [h]:mm:ss or [m]:ss to display it as a duration.

Where seconds to minutes comes up

• Workouts: interval timers, planks and rest periods are set in seconds but planned in minutes. Eight rounds of 20 s work and 10 s rest is 240 s, or exactly 4 minutes.
• Music and video: track and clip lengths appear as m:ss, while editing software and upload limits may count seconds.
• Phone and conference calls: providers that bill per minute usually round up, so a 61-second call can be charged as 2 minutes.
• Cooking: recipes for eggs, pasta and steaks give times in minutes, while sous-vide and microwave instructions may use seconds.
• Engines and machines: revolutions per minute (rpm) and revolutions per second are 60 times apart, the same factor as seconds and minutes. The rpm to Hz converter uses exactly this division.