Frame rate

Frame rate, or frame frequency, is the measurement of how quickly an imaging device can produce several consecutive images, called frames. It applies to computer graphics, to video cameras[?], to film cameras, and to input devices such as motion picture film cameras, video cameras, and motion capture[?] systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (often abbreviated "fps", but not to be confused with FPS or First-Person Shooter) or, equivalently, hertz (Hz).

Some systems, such as NTSC and PAL television, produce an image using several passes called "fields". For those systems, the field rate is equal to the frame rate times the number of fields per frame. Thus, television has 50 or 60 fields per second but 25 or 30 frames per second.

Sources include Federal Standard 1037C and MIL-STD-188

See also persistence of vision.