dystopian fiction audiobook
1984 by George Orwell narrated by Simon Prebble is about 11 hours and 22 minutes long at normal speed. At 1.5× that drops to about 7 hr 35 min, and at 2× to about 5 hr 41 min.
Runtimes are approximate and vary slightly by edition and retailer. Check the length shown in Audible, Libby, Spotify or Apple Books for your copy.
| Playback speed | Total time |
|---|---|
| 0.8× | 14 hr 13 min |
| 1× | 11 hr 22 min |
| 1.25× | 9 hr 6 min |
| 1.5× | 7 hr 35 min |
| 1.75× | 6 hr 30 min |
| 2× | 5 hr 41 min |
| 2.5× | 4 hr 33 min |
| 3× | 3 hr 47 min |
Plan your listen
At one hour a day and normal speed, you'll finish in about 12 days. Speed it up to 1.5× and the same hour a day finishes it in about 8 days. At 45 minutes a day and 1.5×, plan on about 11 days.
The table below shows whole days needed for every combination of speed and daily listening time.
| Speed | 15 min | 30 min | 45 min | 1 hr | 1.5 hr | 2 hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1× | 46 | 23 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 6 |
| 1.25× | 37 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 5 |
| 1.5× | 31 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| 2× | 23 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
How long, really
At 11 hr 22 min, 1984 is close to a full workday of listening, or a New York to London flight and then some. That's longer than about 48% of the 169 popular audiobooks we list.
Spoken at an average narration pace, 1984 comes to roughly 106,000 words. Narrators vary, so a faster or slower reader will shift that number and the total runtime.
Want to try other speeds or your own schedule? Use the audiobook speed calculator or the listening goal calculator to find the daily minutes you need.
Track it as you listen
Booktrace is an iPhone audiobook tracker that logs your sessions, chapters, narrator and playback speed in one place, so you can see real progress through 1984 and how many hours remain, whichever app you listen in.
Common questions
The 1984 audiobook by George Orwell runs about 11 hours and 22 minutes at normal (1x) speed, in the edition narrated by Simon Prebble. Exact runtime can differ by a few minutes between editions and stores.
At 1.5x speed, 1984 takes about 7 hours and 35 minutes. At 2x it takes about 5 hours and 41 minutes.
At one hour a day and normal speed, 1984 takes about 12 days. At 1.5x speed and an hour a day it takes about 8 days. At 30 minutes a day and normal speed it takes about 23 days.
Compared with the 169 popular audiobooks on this site, 1984 is longer than about 48% of them. At 11 hr 22 min it is close to a full workday of listening, or a New York to London flight and then some.
