How do you convert BPM to milliseconds?

One beat (a quarter note) lasts 60,000 divided by the BPM in milliseconds. At 120 BPM that is 500 ms. Every other division is that number scaled: an eighth note is half, a sixteenth is a quarter, and so on.

What is the difference between dotted and triplet values?

A dotted note is 1.5× the straight value, so a dotted eighth at 120 BPM is 375 ms. A triplet is two thirds of it, about 166.67 ms. Dotted delays create the wide off-grid bounce heard in a lot of guitar and dance music; triplets create a rolling swing.

Should I round these numbers?

Round to the nearest millisecond only if your plugin will not accept decimals. Where a plugin offers tempo sync, use that instead — it stays locked when the project tempo changes.

Do the values change with the time signature?

No. These values describe note lengths, which depend only on tempo. Bar lengths do depend on the time signature — the Sample Length Calculator handles those.

Free tool

BPM to Milliseconds

Exact note lengths in milliseconds for any tempo — straight, dotted and triplet — ready to type into a delay, gate or modulation plugin.

Pure arithmetic in your browser. No upload, no account.

Tempo

BPM

Type a tempo or drag the slider.

One beat

500 ms

Quarter note

One bar (4/4)

2000 ms

Note lengths

Values in milliseconds.

Note lengths in milliseconds by tempo
Note	Straight	Dotted	Triplet
Whole (1/1)	2000ms	3000ms	1333.3ms
Half (1/2)	1000ms	1500ms	666.7ms
Quarter (1/4)	500ms	750ms	333.3ms
Eighth (1/8)	250ms	375ms	166.7ms
Sixteenth (1/16)	125ms	187.5ms	83.33ms
Thirty-second (1/32)	62.5ms	93.75ms	41.67ms

Values are rounded for display. Tiny differences between a typed time and a synced plugin are normal and inaudible on their own.

Detail

How this works

The whole table comes from one formula: a quarter note lasts 60000 / BPM milliseconds. Every other division multiplies that by its length in beats, then by 1.5 for dotted values or 2/3 for triplets.

Use these numbers when a plugin has no tempo sync — vintage-style delays, hardware units and many free effects. When sync is available, prefer it: the plugin follows tempo changes automatically, while a typed millisecond value does not.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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