# How to convert seconds to minutes and seconds (mm:ss) in Excel

Divide by 86,400 and format as mm:ss: `=B2/86400` shows 95 seconds as 01:35.

**Excel:** `=B2/86400` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Video | Length (seconds) | mm:ss |
| Intro | 95 |  |
| Product tour | 312 |  |
| Teaser | 47 |  |
| Webinar clip | 1530 |  |
| Tutorial | 600 |  |

Formula in C2, filled to C6: `=B2/86400`

Result: 01:35; 05:12; 00:47; 25:30; 10:00

## How it works

Dividing seconds by 86,400 turns them into a fraction of a day, and the mm:ss number format shows that as minutes and seconds: 312 seconds is 05:12.

## Other ways

- `=TEXT(B2/86400,"mm:ss")`: Text, for labels. (Text.)
- `=INT(B2/60)&":"&TEXT(MOD(B2,60),"00")`: Text that keeps counting past 60 minutes, like 75:30. (Text without a leading zero.)

## Common mistakes

- mm:ss wraps at 60 minutes: 3,725 seconds shows as 02:05. Use the custom format [m]:ss, or h:mm:ss, for longer durations.
- In a number format, mm right before :ss means minutes; on its own, mm means the month.

## Questions

**How do I convert mm:ss back to seconds?**

`=C2*86400`.

**How do I show hours too?**

Use the format `h:mm:ss`.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/convert-seconds-to-minutes-and-seconds