Stopwatch

A precise online stopwatch with lap time recording, pause, and resume features. Ideal for sports, cooking, experiments, and any time measurement needs.

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How to Use

  1. Start the stopwatch

    Click the Start button to begin timing.

  2. Record laps or pause

    Click Lap to record a split time, or Pause to temporarily stop the stopwatch.

  3. Reset

    Click Reset to clear the stopwatch and start a new timing session.

What Is a Stopwatch?

A stopwatch is a timing tool that measures the elapsed time between a start moment and a stop moment. Unlike a clock that points to a specific time of day, a stopwatch treats any chosen instant as zero and accumulates the time that passes from that reference point.

Display and Uses

This stopwatch shows time in MM:SS.cc (minutes:seconds.centiseconds) format. A centisecond is one hundredth of a second, so you can read times down to 1/100 of a second. That makes it well suited to running intervals, cooking timings, measuring presentation length, and recording experiments or observations where short spans must be measured accurately. You can also record a lap without stopping, which lets you split and compare several segments within a single measurement.

Calculation Formula

The actual elapsed time is found from the difference between two high-resolution timer readings.

elapsed (ms) = performance.now() (now) - performance.now() (start)

Milliseconds are converted to MM:SS.cc as follows:

  • total centiseconds = floor(ms / 10)
  • cc (centiseconds) = total centiseconds % 100
  • SS (seconds) = floor(total centiseconds / 100) % 60
  • MM (minutes) = floor(total centiseconds / 6000)

For example, 61,234 ms gives 6,123 total centiseconds → cc=23, seconds=1, minutes=1, so it is shown as 01:01.23. A lap time is calculated as current cumulative - previous lap's cumulative.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I use the stopwatch?
Press the Start button to begin timing. While running, you can press Stop to pause or Lap to record a split. After stopping, press Resume to continue, or Reset to clear everything. Time is shown in MM:SS.cc (centiseconds) format.
What is the Lap feature?
The Lap feature records intermediate segment times without stopping the stopwatch. For example, you can record the time for each lap in a run. Each lap record shows both the segment time (lap time) and the cumulative time from the start.
How are lap time and cumulative time different?
Cumulative time is the total elapsed time from 0 seconds at the start until the moment you record that lap. Lap time is the duration of the segment since the previous lap, calculated as 'current cumulative - previous cumulative'. For the first lap the previous cumulative is 0, so lap time and cumulative time are the same.
How accurate is the measurement?
Internally it uses performance.now() to measure time in milliseconds, and the screen displays centiseconds (1/100 second). The display refreshes via the browser’s requestAnimationFrame at roughly 16.7 ms (60 fps) intervals. Because it runs in a browser, there may be tiny differences compared with professional measuring equipment.
Why does the display only show hundredths of a second (centiseconds)?
Considering how the human eye perceives time and how fast a hand can press a button, 1/100 of a second is a practical unit to read. The measurement itself is done in milliseconds (1/1000 second), so the internal accuracy is higher; at the display stage it is converted to centiseconds with floor(ms/10).
Does the time stop if I switch tabs or the screen turns off?
The display refresh may pause, but the measured value stays correct. Elapsed time is recalculated each time from the difference between the start and the current moment, so even if the display refresh is suspended in the background and then resumes, the actual accumulated elapsed time is reflected exactly.
Can I save my recorded times?
You can view the current session’s time and lap records on screen, but reloading the page resets everything. For records you need to keep, we recommend saving a screenshot.
What is the difference between a stopwatch and a timer (countdown)?
A stopwatch starts at 0 and measures elapsed time as it increases. A timer is the opposite: a countdown from a set time toward 0 that alerts you when the time runs out. Use a stopwatch to measure 'how long it took', and a timer to know 'whether a set time has passed'.
2026 calendar data

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