How Many Photos for a Funeral Slideshow, and How Long Should It Be?
For a slideshow that everyone sits and watches during the service, plan 5 to 8 minutes: 50 to 80 photographs at 5 to 7 seconds each, which is about two songs. For a slideshow that loops in the background at a visitation, wake or reception, length stops mattering — 100 to 200 photographs is comfortable, because nobody watches it from start to finish. The number follows from one sum: photographs × seconds each ÷ 60 = minutes.
Last updated: September 2026
A funeral slideshow (or memorial or tribute slideshow) is a sequence of photographs of the person, usually set to music, shown at a funeral, memorial service, wake or celebration of life. There are two kinds, and they want different lengths. A watched slideshow is part of the service: the room is silent and attentive, so it should be short — typically 5 to 8 minutes. A looping slideshow plays in the background while people arrive, talk and eat, so it can be long, and a photograph that one guest misses comes round again.
The sum, and why 5 to 8 minutes
Minutes = photographs × seconds per photograph ÷ 60. At 6 seconds each, 60 photographs run for 6 minutes. At 5 seconds, the same 60 take 5 minutes; at 8 seconds, 8 minutes. Transitions add about a second each if they cross-fade.
Five to seven seconds is the useful range. Under 4 seconds people cannot find the face in a group photograph before it is gone. Over 8, a silent room grows restless — and the people in it are standing or sitting through something hard. Give group photographs and old prints the longer end; give simple portraits the shorter.
Songs set the length more than photographs do. Most songs run 3 to 4 minutes. One song is 30 to 45 photographs at 5–6 seconds each; two songs, 60 to 90. Choosing the music first and fitting the photographs to it is easier than the other way round, and ending with the music sounds finished in a way that a fade-out in mid-verse never does.
What the family cannot do is show everything. A life produces thousands of photographs and a service has room for about seventy. The rest are not wasted: they belong on a looping screen at the reception, on the memory table, in a shared gallery — anywhere people can take their time.
Building it in an evening
Any slideshow tool will do — Apple Photos, Google Photos, PowerPoint, Keynote, Canva. What matters is the order you do things in.
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1
Decide which kind it is
Watched during the service, or looping at the reception? If both, make the short one from the best of the long one. Ask the funeral director or celebrant how long they have allowed; they will have a number.
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2
Choose the music first
One song for about 4 minutes, two for about 7. Check with the venue what can be played; many have a licence for recorded music, and a livestreamed service may mute copyrighted tracks.
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3
Do the sum
Song length in seconds ÷ 6 = the number of photographs. A 3 minute 40 second song is 220 seconds: about 36 photographs. Two such songs: about 72.
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4
Gather more than you need, then cut
Collect from the whole family and beyond — see our guide to collecting photos — then choose. Aim for every decade of the life, the people who mattered, and a few that make the room smile. One photograph of the person alone, looking at the camera, to end on.
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5
Order by life, not by folder
Childhood to recent is the order people expect and the easiest to follow. Within a decade, alternate portraits with groups so the eye can rest.
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6
Test it on the real screen
The evening before, at the venue if you can: the file plays, the sound comes out of the room's speakers, portrait photographs are not cropped, and the laptop will not sleep. Bring the file on a USB stick as well as the laptop.
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7
Give the other photographs somewhere to go
Put the full set on a looping screen at the reception, or on a live memory wall where guests add their own from their phones and everything lands in one gallery the family keeps. That is what QR Wall does; it is free to start, and $10.99 for a month keeps and downloads everything.
What goes wrong on the day
- ✗Too long. Twelve minutes of photographs in a silent room is a long time. If it will not fit in two songs, it belongs on the looping screen.
- ✗All one era. Phones mean the last ten years are over-represented. Go and find the prints.
- ✗Tiny, dark or sideways photographs. A photo of a photo, taken at an angle under a lamp, looks worse on a projector than on a phone. Re-photograph the important ones in daylight.
- ✗Text nobody can read. Captions in a small font vanish on a projector. If a caption matters, make it a slide of its own.
- ✗The laptop's notifications. Turn on Do Not Disturb and close everything else. Messages arriving on a screen at a funeral are remembered.
- ✗No copy. Export a video file as well as the editable slideshow, and carry it on a USB stick.
Length, photographs and music at a glance
At 6 seconds per photograph, the middle of the useful range. Use 5 seconds for a quicker pace, 7 for older prints and group photographs.
Frequently asked questions
How many photos should be in a funeral slideshow?
For a slideshow watched during the service, 50 to 80 photographs — 5 to 8 minutes at 5 to 7 seconds each, which is about two songs. For a slideshow that loops in the background at a visitation or reception, 100 to 200 or more is fine, because people watch it in passing and photographs come round again.
How long should a memorial slideshow be?
Five to eight minutes if the room is sitting and watching it. That is long enough to cover a whole life and short enough to hold a silent room. If it plays in the background while people talk, length does not matter; 20 to 30 minutes before it repeats works well.
How many seconds should each photo stay on screen?
Five to seven seconds. Use the shorter end for simple portraits and the longer end for group photographs and old prints, where people need a moment to find the face. Under four seconds feels rushed; over eight feels slow in a quiet room.
How many photos fit in one song?
About 35 to 40 for a typical 3½ to 4 minute song at 6 seconds per photograph. The sum is the song's length in seconds divided by the seconds each photograph is shown: 220 seconds ÷ 6 ≈ 36 photographs.
What do we do with the photos that do not fit?
Show them somewhere people can take their time: a looping screen at the reception, prints on the memory table, or a shared gallery. A live memory wall does this and also collects the photographs guests bring on their own phones, so the family ends the day with more pictures than it started with.
Can guests add their own photos to the slideshow?
Not to a pre-made slideshow — it is a fixed file. A live memory wall is the version that can: guests scan a QR code, add a photograph and a few words from their phone, and it appears on the screen within a second or two. Many families play the prepared tribute during the service and run the wall at the reception. QR Wall is free to start; $10.99 for a month keeps and downloads everything.
What music can we play with a funeral slideshow?
Anything the family chooses, in the room. Most funeral homes and many venues hold a licence that covers playing recorded music at a service; ask them. If the service is livestreamed or the video will be posted online, copyrighted tracks may be muted or blocked by the platform, so ask the person running the stream before the day.
The slideshow shows seventy. The wall keeps the rest.
Guests add their own photographs from their phones. Free to start, no app.
Create your free QR Wall →✓ No credit card required ✓ Setup in 60 seconds
Related resources
How to collect photos for a funeral
Five ways to gather everyone's photographs in the days you have
A memory wall for a celebration of life
Guests add photos from their phones; the family keeps every one
Funeral photo display ideas
Twelve ways to share a life in pictures
Showing photos on a TV or projector
Three setups, including a smart TV with no laptop