3 Minute Timer
A ready-to-go 03:00 countdown -- press Start, or set a different duration below if you need one.
Keyboard: Space start/pause, R reset, Esc stop alarm.
What a 3 minute timer is used for
- the classic soft-boiled "three-minute egg"
- a professional boxing round, though amateur bouts sometimes run shorter
- roughly the length of a typical radio-era pop song
- a short guided-breathing or box-breathing session
- a quick task-switch buffer between back-to-back meetings
Why 3 minutes
Three minutes sits right at the edge of what a boxing round runs and what a soft-boiled egg needs -- two very different domains that happen to converge on the same number. It's also long enough that a spoken explanation, unscripted, genuinely fills it if you're rehearsing a short pitch or a toast.
3 minutes = 180 seconds = 1/20 hour
How it stays accurate
Like every timer on this site, this one never counts down by subtracting one second at a time -- it records the exact target end timestamp the moment you press Start, then recomputes the time left from that fixed target on every screen update. Switching tabs, minimizing the window, or letting the browser throttle a background tab doesn't cost any accuracy, because the next update still does the subtraction fresh rather than trying to catch up on missed ticks. The alarm itself is synthesized with the Web Audio API -- no audio file, nothing an ad blocker could interfere with -- and repeats until you stop it with the Escape key, the Stop alarm button, or by starting a new countdown.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a 3 minute timer good for?
A few common uses: the classic soft-boiled "three-minute egg"; a professional boxing round, though amateur bouts sometimes run shorter; roughly the length of a typical radio-era pop song.
How long is 3 minutes in other units?
3 minutes = 180 seconds = 1/20 hour.
Does this 3 minute timer stay accurate if I switch tabs?
Yes -- it stores the exact moment the countdown should end and recomputes the time left from that fixed target on every update, rather than counting ticks, so a background tab that gets throttled for a while doesn't cost any accuracy.
Why is 3 minutes a notable duration?
Three minutes sits right at the edge of what a boxing round runs and what a soft-boiled egg needs -- two very different domains that happen to converge on the same number. It's also long enough that a spoken explanation, unscripted, genuinely fills it if you're rehearsing a short pitch or a toast.