Cents Interval Calculator

About this calculator

A cent is a logarithmic unit of musical pitch equal to 1/100 of an equal-tempered semitone, so an octave (a 2:1 frequency ratio) always spans exactly 1200 cents regardless of the actual frequencies involved. The interval between two frequencies is calculated as cents = 1200·log₂(f₂/f₁), which lets any pitch difference — however small — be measured on a single, uniform scale rather than in raw Hz, where the same musical interval corresponds to a different Hz gap at every octave.

Piano tuners and instrument technicians use cents to measure and correct tuning deviations with precision finer than the ear alone can judge, while ethnomusicologists use them to compare non-Western and microtonal scales (Indian shruti, Indonesian gamelan) against the Western equal-tempered system. Sound engineers, synthesizer designers, and music theory students also use cents when analyzing or building tuning systems, since it is the standard unit for describing pitch precision in acoustics.