A sourced explainer

The Zapruder Film

Sequence

Frame by frame

A sourced walkthrough of the 486 exposed frames of Abraham Zapruder's 8mm film, from the motorcade's turn onto Elm to its disappearance under the Triple Underpass — with the timing of each documented shot event.

How to read this timeline

Times are measured at the FBI's 1964 running-speed value of 18.3 frames per second and calculated from Z-133, the first frame in which the presidential limousine appears continuously on Elm Street. Frame numbers use the standard NARA convention. Shot windows are drawn from the Warren Commission Report (1964), the HSCA Final Report (1979), and the ARRB technical review by Roland Zavada (1998).

The 19.3 seconds on Elm Street

  1. Z-133 to Z-160 · 0.0 – 1.5 s

    Presidential limousine (SS-100-X) rounds the corner from Houston onto Elm Street and enters Zapruder's continuous frame. Kennedy is waving to the crowd on the north side of Elm.

  2. Z-161 to Z-206 · 1.5 – 4.0 s

    The limousine passes behind the Stemmons Freeway sign, which obscures Kennedy from Zapruder's view for approximately 0.9 seconds (Z-207 to Z-224).

  3. Z-210 to Z-225 (Warren Commission window) · 4.2 – 5.0 s

    The Warren Commission located the first shot to strike the President within this window. Kennedy emerges from behind the sign at Z-225 already reacting, with hands moving toward his throat.

  4. Z-223 to Z-224 (HSCA window) · ≈4.9 s

    The HSCA's Photographic Evidence Panel narrowed the first-shot impact on Kennedy to this two-frame span based on refined analysis of the reaction onset.

  5. Z-238 to Z-240 (single-bullet frame) · 5.7 – 5.8 s

    Governor Connally shows the reaction the Warren Commission attributed to the same bullet that struck Kennedy — the single-bullet theory hinges on Connally's response in these frames.

  6. Z-313 · ≈9.8 s from Z-133

    Fatal head shot. See the dedicated Frame 313 page for the panel findings and the head-snap debate.

  7. Z-314 to Z-321 · 9.8 – 10.3 s

    The President's head snaps backward and to the left. Mrs. Kennedy begins to move from her seat toward the trunk of the limousine.

  8. Z-343 to Z-390 · 11.5 – 14.0 s

    Mrs. Kennedy climbs onto the trunk; Secret Service agent Clint Hill sprints from the follow-up car and reaches the limousine.

  9. Z-486 · ≈19.3 s

    The limousine disappears into the Triple Underpass. Zapruder continues to film briefly beyond this on unexposed footage that does not appear in the record.

Where the timing disputes lie

The Warren Commission proposed three shots fired within a window of approximately 5.6 seconds (Z-210 to Z-313). The HSCA agreed on three hits from the Book Depository but concluded, on acoustic evidence, that a fourth shot from the grassy knoll was "probable" — a finding the National Academy of Sciences subsequently disputed in 1982 (Ramsey Panel report, National Research Council).

Recent acoustic work by Don Thomas (2013) and Josiah Thompson (2021) has argued that the NAS critique itself is flawed, keeping the fourth-shot question open in the peer literature. The Analyses page walks through the acoustic dispute in detail.

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