4 Minute Timer
A ready-to-go 04:00 countdown -- press Start, or set a different duration below if you need one.
Keyboard: Space start/pause, R reset, Esc stop alarm.
What a 4 minute timer is used for
- the 4-minute mile, the benchmark Roger Bannister famously broke in 1954
- two rounds of a 2-minute drill in football practice
- a quick steep for some black teas before they start to turn bitter
- a short vocal warm-up before a rehearsal
- a fast interval-training work block for advanced athletes
Why 4 minutes
Four minutes carries one famous athletic association: the sub-4-minute mile, long treated as the benchmark of elite middle-distance running before Roger Bannister broke it in 1954, running the distance in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. Outside athletics it's an underused duration -- long enough for a real task, short enough not to need a break partway through.
4 minutes = 240 seconds = 1/15 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 4 minute timer good for?
A few common uses: the 4-minute mile, the benchmark Roger Bannister famously broke in 1954; two rounds of a 2-minute drill in football practice; a quick steep for some black teas before they start to turn bitter.
How long is 4 minutes in other units?
4 minutes = 240 seconds = 1/15 hour.
Does this 4 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 4 minutes a notable duration?
Four minutes carries one famous athletic association: the sub-4-minute mile, long treated as the benchmark of elite middle-distance running before Roger Bannister broke it in 1954, running the distance in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. Outside athletics it's an underused duration -- long enough for a real task, short enough not to need a break partway through.