Frame rate, and what it decides downstream
A frame rate is frames per second of playback. It converts a count into a duration, and it decides whether generated material can sit beside conventionally shot footage without interpolation. As of 2026-09-22.
| Rate | Implication |
|---|---|
| 15 frames a second | Likely to need interpolation for a standard timeline |
| 16 frames a second | Same, and an unusual value to plan around |
| 24 frames a second | Matches a common cinematic timeline |
| 30 frames a second | Matches a common broadcast timeline |
Inclusion rule. Frame rates stated by releases in this register. Rates no release here publishes are excluded. Order. Ascending by frames per second.
1Low rates are a production cost
Material at fifteen or sixteen frames a second will usually be interpolated before it sits beside footage at twenty-four or thirty. That is a processing stage with its own artefacts and its own runtime.
A reader can only plan for it if the rate is published. Two releases here state a frame count with no rate, so the question cannot be asked of them at all.
2The rate is not a quality claim
A higher rate is not a better model. It is a choice about how the output is intended to be played, and it interacts with the frame count to set both the duration and the memory a run holds.
The register records rates where they are published and never derives one from a stated duration, because that arithmetic would put a vendor's name on a number it did not state.
3How often it appears in the register
Five families publish one, at values of fifteen, sixteen, twenty-four and thirty frames a second. It is the cheapest of the three output values to publish and the one most often missing.
Where it exists, a frame count converts into a duration and a duration into frames. Where it does not, neither conversion is available from the vendor's own pages, and the register does not supply one.
A reading note, not an entry: no vendor value appears on this page. Where the register records this term for a particular release, it is on the length column and on that family's own page. Nearby terms: Clip length, Frame interpolation.