Abstract The growth rate during high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) of titanium is measured with a temporal resolution of up to 54 µs using a rotating shutter concept. According to that concept a 200 µm slit is rotated in front of the substrate synchronous with the HPPMS pulses. Thereby, the growth flux is laterally distributed over the substrate. By measuring the resulting deposition profile with profilometry, the temporal variation of the growth flux per pulse is deduced. The analysis reveals that film growth occurs mainly during a HPPMS pulse, with the growth rate slowly increasing during the pulse and decaying afterwards with a decay time of 100 µs. The maximum of film deposition shifts to earlier times in the pulse with increasing peak power.