What is Read Time on Medium.com?

Explaining the difference between ‘read time’ and ‘member reading time’ on Medium

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

I love writing on Medium, but even a peaceful Buddha would know how frustratingly opaque it can be sometimes.

So today I’ll cover the ins and outs of reading time as shown and used on Medium.com. And hopefully, it won't take too much reading time to do so.

How is ‘Read Time’ calculated on Medium?

Whether you’re a casual reader or a big-shot writer on Medium, I’m sure you’ve noticed the little marker at the beginning of every article.

While the placement of the number roams around a lot with each absolutely positively ridiculously necessary tweak to Medium’s UI, the calculation seems to remain the same.

Essentially, the text to reading time on Medium is:

1 minute of reading time = 265 words

While Medium doesn’t state its exact source for this number, it’s probably based on their own data as well as public estimates in the range of 250–300 words for adults.

As for articles written in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, the WPM ratio is based on characters instead: