How to Calculate Arrow Speed

Start with your bow's IBO rating in fps. Add (Draw Length − 30) × 10 fps. Add (Draw Weight − 70) × 2 fps. Subtract (Arrow Weight − 5 × Draw Weight) ÷ 3 fps. Subtract (String Accessory Weight) ÷ 3 fps. The result is your estimated arrow speed in feet per second — exactly the workflow our homepage calculator performs in real time.

Use the two-distance pin-shift field method: site-in at 20 yards, mark your group center, then shoot from 40 yards using the same 20-yard pin without readjusting. Measure the vertical drop between the two groups in inches. A drop of 28.7 inches ≈ 220 fps, 20.6 inches ≈ 260 fps, 15.5 inches ≈ 300 fps, and 12.8 inches ≈ 330 fps. Alternatively, plug your bow specs into the IBO calculator on this site's homepage for a zero-equipment estimate.

Crossbows advertise much higher raw fps (380–470) because they use a shorter, stiffer prod. To compare apples to apples with a compound's IBO-rated speed, multiply the crossbow's advertised figure by 0.82 to account for the shorter power stroke. A 420-fps crossbow ≈ 344-fps compound-equivalent. Crossbows also have a stiffer string accessory penalty (~1 fps per 4.5 grains vs 1 fps per 3 grains on a compound) because the prod stores energy differently than limbs.

You only need five numbers: the IBO rating (fps), your actual draw length (inches), peak draw weight (pounds), total arrow weight (grains), and string accessory weight (grains — peep, D-loop, silencers, serving). Plug them into the IBO correction formula or use our homepage arrow speed calculator. The calculator also converts the result to mph, m/s, km/h, knots, and five other units in real time without re-entering anything.

Within ±5 to 10 fps of chronograph readings for well-rated bows, which is accurate enough for tuning, spine matching, and trajectory estimation. If the advertised IBO is inflated by 10–15 fps (common on budget or 'speed bow' marketing), calibrate it once with a single chronograph reading, then use that corrected IBO in all future calculations — the Corrected IBO workflow on the homepage walks you through it.

Above 330 fps on a compound, bow tune sensitivity rises non-linearly. A 10-fps gain from 300 → 310 flattens trajectory by roughly 1.2 inches at 40 yards. The same 10-fps gain from 340 → 350 only flattens it by 0.6 inches — but the form-error penalty doubles because the arrow spends less time on the string. The cost/benefit tipping point for most hunters is 290–310 fps with a 400–450 grain arrow.

Multiply fps by 0.681818 to get mph, by 0.3048 to get m/s, by 1.09728 to get km/h. Reverse: divide mph by 0.681818, divide m/s by 0.3048. The arrow speed calculator on the homepage handles all eight units — fps, mph, m/s, km/h, knots, ft/min, cm/s, mm/s — via a dropdown next to the result, with no re-entry required.

The 5-grains-per-pound IBO baseline (350 grains at 70 lbs) is the calibration point. Every 3 grains above 5×W costs ~1 fps; every 3 grains below gains ~1 fps. Going below 5 gr/lb on a compound is unsafe and voids most warranties. Crossbows require 6.5–7 gr/lb minimum, so the IBO formula under-predicts crossbow weight penalties by about 30% unless you apply the correction.

Use the IBO shortcut in three steps. (1) Look up your bow's advertised IBO/ATA rating. (2) Measure four numbers about your real setup: actual draw length (inches), peak draw weight (pounds on the scale), total arrow mass including broadhead (grains on a grain scale), and string accessory mass (peep + D-loop + silencers, grains). (3) Apply the IBO corrections: Add (Draw − 30) × 10 fps; Add (DrawWeight − 70) × 2 fps; Subtract (Arrow − 5 × DrawWeight) ÷ 3 fps; Subtract StringMass ÷ 3 fps. That is the full calculate-arrow-speed math — no chrono, no range visit, under 60 seconds once you have the numbers. If you do not want to do arithmetic manually, the 5-parameter arrow speed calculator on this site's homepage computes the same formula live, converts to mph/m/s/km/h/knots, and also outputs momentum and foot-pounds of kinetic energy side-by-side.

Yes — arrow velocity and arrow speed are exact synonyms in archery. Strictly speaking, in physics velocity is a vector (speed + direction) and speed is a scalar, but in bowhunting and 3D contexts the two words are used interchangeably to mean forward magnitude. Similarly, fps, ft/s, ft/sec, and 'feet per second' are all the same unit — just typographic variants (fps is industry shorthand in IBO ratings; ft/s is used in Olympic documentation). For the 'how fast is my arrow traveling?' real-world intuition: 290 fps ≈ 197.9 mph ≈ 318.2 km/h ≈ 88.4 m/s. More generally, multiply fps by 0.682 to get mph, by 1.097 to get km/h, by 0.305 to get m/s. The unit-conversion dropdown on the homepage calculator does this instantly with no re-entry — the same 5-parameter input gives speed in 8 different units on demand.

A traditional longbow tops out around 200 fps (136 mph), an Olympic recurve around 230 fps (157 mph), and a typical hunting compound around 300 fps (205 mph). Flagship speed-rated compounds reach 330–360 fps at IBO reference conditions, and crossbows advertise 380–470 fps — but crossbow numbers need a 0.82 correction factor (covered in the Crossbow section above) to compare fairly with a compound. The absolute hand-held-bow ceiling is roughly 360 fps. For the full bow-by-bow speed chart with mph, km/h, and m/s conversions, see the 'How Fast Does an Arrow Travel?' table on the homepage arrow speed calculator; this guide page instead teaches you how to calculate the exact fps for your specific rig using the IBO formula, chronograph, or field-estimation methods rather than relying on a generic range.

IBO speed in archery is the standardized muzzle-velocity rating every compound bow manufacturer publishes, measured under the IBO (International Bowhunting Organization) reference condition: a 350-grain arrow (exactly 5 grains per pound at the 70 lb reference draw weight), a 30-inch draw length, peak draw weight turned to the maximum, and no string accessories (no peep, D-loop, or silencers). The number — typically 300–360 fps for modern compounds — is the ONLY apples-to-apples speed comparison between bows, because every manufacturer runs the same 350gr / 30″ / 70lb / no-accessories test. Your real-world fps is always lower than the IBO number because real arrows are heavier than 5 gr/lb, real draw length varies, and real strings carry 10–30 grains of accessories. That gap is exactly what the IBO correction formula on this guide computes: start from the published IBO speed, then subtract the penalties for your actual arrow weight, draw length, draw weight, and string mass. When a bow is advertised as 'IBO 340 fps', that is the speed under the IBO reference condition — not the speed you will actually shoot.

Arrows in archery fly between roughly 170 and 400 feet per second depending on the bow: a youth or light target recurve sends an arrow at 170–220 fps, a traditional longbow around 180–210 fps, an Olympic recurve 220–240 fps, a typical hunting compound 270–310 fps, a speed-rated compound 320–360 fps, and a crossbow 380–470 fps. In everyday units the speed of an arrow is about 120 mph for a recurve and 200+ mph for a compound — faster than a tennis serve, slower than a paintball. The phrase 'arrow speed in archery' (sometimes typed 'arrowspeed archery') refers to this whole range and to the IBO-standardized way of measuring and comparing it; if you were searching for the Arrowspeed brand of crossbows specifically, that is a crossbow-hardware topic on the crossbow page rather than a calculation topic. The exact fps for YOUR setup is what the IBO formula and the homepage arrow speed calculator compute — the ranges above are the general answer, the formula is the specific one.

AMO speed is the older Archery Manufacturers Organization rating, measured with a 540-grain arrow (9 gr/lb) at 60 lb peak draw weight and a 30-inch draw — versus the IBO standard's 350-grain arrow at 70 lb and 30 inches. Because the AMO reference arrow is nearly twice as heavy and the reference bow 10 lb lighter, the same bow reads roughly 55–65 fps slower under AMO: the practical AMO-to-IBO conversion is IBO ≈ AMO + 60 fps (equivalently AMO ≈ IBO − 60, or about AMO × 0.82 going the other way). Let-off is part of the gap too — AMO ratings come from the era of 50–65% let-off cams and no-let-off recurves, while modern IBO speed bows run 75–85% let-off hard cams. If your bow's spec sheet only lists AMO (traditional and vintage listings), add ~60 fps and enter that as the Bow IBO Rating in the calculator above; when both numbers are published, expect the AMO figure to track your real-world hunting speed better, because a 9 gr/lb reference arrow resembles an actual hunting build far more than IBO's 5 gr/lb.