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Posted by Alex Henricks
Alex Henricks
7,911 Points

VTT time code different than SMPTE time code?

Is there a reason that the VTT time code is slightly different than SMPTE time code (the standard for video in the production world)?

VTT is broken down as: hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds

While SMPTE is: hours:minutes:seconds:frames

Just wondering because if you have a video that is 24FPS (standard video) but then also a video that is 60FPS (or higher with more Hi Def options) some of your timecode might be out of sync.

It just seems odd that this format would be almost like the format used for editing video content, but just slightly different.

Michael Lawinger
Michael Lawinger
33,581 Points

I am a Video & Graphics Editor and that's a great question. It's simple yet confusing. They are the same except for as you were mentioning: milliseconds and fps. You'll have to do some math and calculations if you want to exactly match the exact frame in milliseconds. For an easy example, if you are shooting 1080p 60fps and your SMPTE timecode is 00:02:32:30 that would be a half a second since it is half of the 60 frames in one second, therefore you could say the VTT timecode would be 00:02:32:500 because the :500 is half of a second. So an equation you could use is (current fps/fps= time in milliseconds). Lastly, I'll put it all together combining the equation and example --- (30/60fps=.500) The answer is :500 milliseconds. I know its confusing but I hope that helped!