How to Calculate Frames Per Second

A frame rate is used to determine how well an application such as a 3D game is performing. A high frame rate means that many frames are being rendered per second, so the application is running smoothly. Calculating an application's frame rate is a straightforward process of measuring the time it takes for a frame to render, then converting the time to frames per second.

Instructions

1. Record the time that you start rendering a frame. Most languages have a function that returns the number of milliseconds that have passed since midnight. This value works perfectly for calculating frames per second.

2. Record the time that you start rendering the next frame.

3. Subtract the first time from the second. This gives the number of milliseconds that the first frame took to render.

4. Divide 1,000 by the number of milliseconds that the frame took to render. This converts from milliseconds per frame to frames per second.

Tips & Warnings

• The calculation will fail if a frame renders in less than one millisecond. The last step will be a division by zero. Always check to make sure the difference is measurable.

• If a frame is rendered while the time hits midnight, the calculation will result in a very tiny negative number. Use a special case to adjust the timer at midnight.