Tempo markings and BPM
What the Italian tempo words mean in beats per minute, how far published ranges disagree, and how many milliseconds a beat lasts. Every tempo on this page opens TEMPOZOID already set to it.
Tempo markings
A tempo marking names a character as much as a speed, and there is no standard that turns one into a number. Below are the bands TEMPOZOID's own dial uses to name a tempo, next to two published sets of ranges, which disagree with each other and with it. Read any of them as a starting point rather than a definition.
| Marking | Meaning | TEMPOZOID dial | Dolmetsch | LibreTexts | Hear it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grave | very slow and solemn | 30 to 39 | 40 or slower | 20 to 40 | 35 BPM |
| Largo | broad, very slow | 40 to 59 | 42 to 66 | 45 to 50 | 50 BPM |
| Adagio | slow, at ease | 60 to 75 | 58 to 97 | 55 to 65 | 68 BPM |
| Andante | at a walking pace | 76 to 107 | 56 to 88 | 73 to 77 | 92 BPM |
| Moderato | moderate | 108 to 119 | 66 to 126 | 86 to 97 | 114 BPM |
| Allegro | quick and bright | 120 to 155 | 84 to 144 | 109 to 132 | 138 BPM |
| Vivace | lively | 156 to 175 | about 140 | 132 to 140 | 166 BPM |
| Presto | very quick | 176 to 199 | 100 to 152 | 168 to 177 | 188 BPM |
| Prestissimo | as quick as possible | 200 to 260 | none given | none given | 230 BPM |
All figures are beats per minute. TEMPOZOID's dial runs from 30 to 260, so its slowest and fastest bands stop there.
Milliseconds per beat
One beat lasts 60,000 divided by the tempo, in milliseconds, and each subdivision divides that again. This is the number a delay pedal or a sequencer wants when it has to sit in time with a song. Tap a tempo to hear it.
| BPM | Beat | Eighth | Triplet | Sixteenth | Dotted eighth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 1500 | 750 | 500 | 375 | 1125 |
| 50 | 1200 | 600 | 400 | 300 | 900 |
| 60 | 1000 | 500 | 333.3 | 250 | 750 |
| 70 | 857.1 | 428.6 | 285.7 | 214.3 | 642.9 |
| 80 | 750 | 375 | 250 | 187.5 | 562.5 |
| 90 | 666.7 | 333.3 | 222.2 | 166.7 | 500 |
| 100 | 600 | 300 | 200 | 150 | 450 |
| 110 | 545.5 | 272.7 | 181.8 | 136.4 | 409.1 |
| 120 | 500 | 250 | 166.7 | 125 | 375 |
| 130 | 461.5 | 230.8 | 153.8 | 115.4 | 346.2 |
| 140 | 428.6 | 214.3 | 142.9 | 107.1 | 321.4 |
| 150 | 400 | 200 | 133.3 | 100 | 300 |
| 160 | 375 | 187.5 | 125 | 93.8 | 281.3 |
| 170 | 352.9 | 176.5 | 117.6 | 88.2 | 264.7 |
| 180 | 333.3 | 166.7 | 111.1 | 83.3 | 250 |
| 200 | 300 | 150 | 100 | 75 | 225 |
| 220 | 272.7 | 136.4 | 90.9 | 68.2 | 204.5 |
| 240 | 250 | 125 | 83.3 | 62.5 | 187.5 |
All figures are milliseconds, to a tenth. Going the other way, a tempo is 60,000 divided by the length of one beat in milliseconds: a 500ms beat is 120 BPM.
Finding a tempo by tapping
If you know the speed in your hands but not as a number, tap it. In TEMPOZOID press TAP TEMPO, or the T key, in time with the music. It takes the gaps between your last eight taps and uses the middle one, the median, rather than the average, so one late tap does not drag the tempo with it. Stop tapping for two seconds and it starts again from scratch.
Open TEMPOZOID to set any tempo from 30 to 260 BPM, with accented downbeats, subdivisions and a practice trainer. It works offline once it has loaded.
Sources
- Brian Blood, "Tempo", Dolmetsch Online music theory, the column headed Dolmetsch.
- Kuznetsova, "Tempo Markings and Changes", Music Appreciation II, LibreTexts (CC BY-SA 4.0), the column headed LibreTexts.
Ranges quoted as printed on 26 October 2026. The meanings are short glosses that both sources support.