Frame rate explained: What is fps in video games?
Unity Team - Unity Technologies
Frame rate is how many individual images (frames) a video game draws and displays per second, measured in frames per second (fps). Each frame is a snapshot of the game world. Shown in rapid succession, they create the illusion of motion. Keep reading to learn about fps benchmarking, why 30, 60, and 120 fps are common targets, why steady beats fast, and how to pick a frame rate for your video game.
What is frame rate in video games?
A video game can be likened to a flipbook. Many times a second, it draws a fresh picture of the world – where the character is, where the enemies are, what the light looks like – and puts it on screen. Do that fast and steadily enough and your brain stops seeing pictures and starts seeing motion.
How fast and how steadily that happens is called frame rate. It’s one of the most talked-about numbers in games, and one of the most misunderstood. This guide explains what it means, which numbers matter, and how to choose the right target for the game you want to make.
What frame rate means
Each picture a game draws is called a frame. Frame rate is how many frames the game draws every second, measured in frames per second (fps). A game running at 30 fps shows 30 new pictures each second; at 60 fps, it shows 60.
More frames per second generally means smoother motion, because each picture is a smaller step from the one before. That smoothness also makes a game feel more responsive, since what you see catches up to what you pressed sooner.
What is frame time?
Frame time is how long it takes to render a single frame, measured in milliseconds (ms). It’s the inverse of frame rate: 1000 ms divided by fps:
The higher the frame rate, the less time the game has to draw each frame. Table generated by Claude Opus 5.5, October 26, 2026.
Developers often find frame time more useful than frame rate. Think of it as a budget. At 60 fps, everything the game needs to do – move characters, check collisions, run the rules, draw the scene – has to fit inside roughly 16.7 ms. If one frame needs more, it’s late, and the player sees it.
Frame rate vs refresh rate
Your game determines how many frames it makes. The screen decides how often it can show a new one. That second number is the display’s refresh rate, measured in hertz (Hz).
The two need to line up. A screen that refreshes 60 times a second can’t show more than 60 new frames per second, so a 120 fps target only pays off on a display that refreshes at 120 Hz. And when the frame rate doesn’t divide evenly into the refresh rate, frames can end up on screen for uneven lengths of time, which looks like stutter even when the average number seems fine.
That’s why some targets that look odd make sense. A 40 fps mode works well on a 120 Hz screen because 40 divides evenly into 120 – each frame stays up for exactly three refreshes.
Common frame rate targets and what they’re for
There’s no single “right” frame rate. Each common target is a trade-off between smoothness and how much the game can draw each frame.
Table showing how long a game has to draw each frame at common frame rates: about 33.3 milliseconds at 30 fps, 16.7 at 60 fps, 13.9 at 72 fps, 11.1 at 90 fps, and 8.3 at 120 fps. Table generated by Claude Opus 5.5, October 26, 2026.
A few patterns stand out:
- Many console games let players choose. A quality mode might run at 30 fps with sharper visuals, while a performance mode runs at 60 fps with lower resolution or fewer effects.
- Fast, precise games lean hard toward 60 fps. Fighting games, for example, are often locked to 60 fps because the timing of every attack animation is counted in frames.
- VR is stricter. In a headset, a low or unsteady frame rate is more than an annoyance – it can contribute to motion sickness, which is why VR platforms set firm minimums.
Why steady beats fast
Here’s the part that surprises most new creators: a consistent frame rate often feels better than a higher one that keeps changing. A steady 30 fps can feel smoother than a 60 fps that keeps dipping.
The reason is that players notice change more than they notice the number. When most frames arrive on time and a few arrive late, those late frames show up as hitches, stutters, or brief freezes – even if the average frame rate looks great.
That’s also why the average alone can mislead you. One way to judge consistency is to look at your slowest frames, not just the typical ones. Imagine three games, each measured over the same stretch of play:
Two games with the same average frame rate can feel very different. Figures adapted from the Android Developers mobile game performance guide. Table generated by Claude Opus 5.5, October 26, 2026.
The “unstable” game has the same average as the “smooth” one, but players would describe them very differently. Sudden freezes like these often come from work that happens all at once mid-game, such as preparing new visual effects the first time they appear or loading new content while the player moves through the world.
Locked vs unlocked frame rates
This is why many games lock or cap their frame rate. A locked frame rate holds the game at a fixed number, like 30 or 60, even if the hardware could sometimes go faster. An unlocked frame rate lets it run as fast as it can, which means it rises and falls with what’s on screen.
Unlocked frame rates can look uneven and can cause screen tearing, where parts of two different frames show at once. Displays that support variable refresh rate (VRR) adjust to the game’s output and smooth much of this out. If you’re not sure which to choose, locking to a target you can reliably hit is usually the safer starting point.
What lowers a game’s frame rate
Every frame has to fit inside its time budget. When it doesn’t, the frame rate drops. The work generally falls into two buckets:
- Game logic: everything the game thinks about, such as character behavior, physics, and rules. Too many objects doing too much at once can slow things down.
- Drawing the scene: everything the game shows, such as the number of objects on screen, the complexity of their materials and effects, and the resolution.
Knowing which bucket is the problem matters, because the fixes are different. Lowering the resolution won’t help much if the slowdown comes from hundreds of characters making decisions at once.
This is also why games offer trade-offs. To hold 60 fps, a game might lower its resolution, reduce effects, or use dynamic resolution, which quietly lowers the resolution during busy moments so the frame rate stays steady. On slower devices, lowering graphics settings is one of the most direct ways to recover a heavy, sluggish frame rate.
Frame rate on phones and battery
On mobile, frame rate affects more than smoothness. Drawing frames the player won’t benefit from uses power. Running at a frame rate that matches the screen and avoiding unnecessary screen updates can help battery life. Many phones support several refresh rates, such as 120, 90, 60, and 30 Hz, so a game can pick the one that fits.
For a slower-paced mobile game, a lower, steady frame rate can be a reasonable choice. For a fast action game, the smoothness of a higher frame rate is usually worth the power.
How to choose a frame rate for your video game
To choose a frame rate for your video game, ask yourself these questions:
- How fast is the action? Fast, reaction-based games – action, racing, rhythm, fighting – benefit most from 60 fps or higher. Slower, more deliberate games can feel fine at 30 fps, as long as it’s steady.
- Where will people play? Check the platform’s typical screens. A 120 fps target only matters on a 120 Hz display, and VR platforms may set minimums you have to meet.
- What matters more – detail or responsiveness? If your game is about atmosphere and rich visuals, a steady 30 fps can free up budget. If it’s about precise control, protect the frame rate first.
- Can you hold it everywhere? Test the busiest moment in your game – the biggest fight, the most crowded scene – not just the quiet ones. That’s where the frame rate will dip first.
- Do you need options? Offering a quality mode and a performance mode lets players choose their own trade-off.
A quick frame rate checklist
Before you share your game, run through this list:
- I’ve picked a target frame rate and know why.
- My game holds that target in its busiest moments, not just on average.
- I’ve checked for sudden freezes, especially the first time new areas or effects appear.
- My target fits the screens my players will use.
- If I’m making a VR game, I meet the platform’s minimum frame rate.
- On mobile, I’m not drawing more frames than the game needs.
Keep it smooth, keep it steady
Frame rate isn’t a score to max out. It’s a promise to the player that the game will respond the same way every time they press a button. Pick a target that suits your game, protect it in the busiest moments, and remember that steady almost always beats fast.
Ready to put what you’ve learned into practice? You don't need to be a developer. Try Unity Spark, Unity's browser-based, AI game creation platform that allows you to describe your game, refine it in a real web editor, and publish it for others to play.
Header image note: A bouncing ball shown across five frames above an evenly spaced timeline, to suggest steady pacing. Image generated by Claude Opus 5.5, October 7, 2026.