Understanding the current-time display

The counter at the top left of the Timeline window shows the location of the current-time marker in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. This is the convention used by the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE). For example, a display of 00:01:51:15 indicates a point that is 1 minute 51 seconds and 15 frames into the animation. At a frame rate of 30 frames per second (fps), this would be 1 minute and 51.5 seconds.

The current-time display counts frames in single increments until it reaches a new second, then starts over at 0. Thus, if your frame rate is set to 12 fps, the current-time display would advance from 00:00:00:11 to 00:00:01:00.