Change a clip's speed

Speed changes are manual editing, so they are free and work offline in any project. This is the Mac and Windows app.

Set a rate

Select the clip and open the Speed tab in the Inspector. Drag Rate anywhere from 0.1× to 4×, or tap 0.5×, 1× or 2×. The clip’s length on the timeline changes to match.

Choose what happens to the sound

Under PITCH, Natural keeps a voice at its own pitch as the clip speeds up or slows down; it is the default. Follows speed works like tape: the sound rises as the clip speeds up and drops as it slows. The exported master does the same as the preview either way.

Play it backwards

Under DIRECTION, choose Reverse (same length, last frame first), Ping-pong (out and back, nearly twice as long) or Instant replay (repeats the last two seconds). Forward puts it back. The same choices are in the clip’s right-click menu, under Direction.

Fit a clip to an exact length

Right-click the clip and choose Retime to length…. Type the NEW LENGTH and choose Retime: the clip keeps every frame and plays at whatever speed fills that length, from 0.1× up to 10×. Nothing after this clip moves.

Ramp the speed

Under SPEED RAMP, choose Ramp this clip…. It cuts the clip into two to four pieces, each at its own rate — a slow-motion beat in the middle of a shot, say. Set each piece’s rate and where each cut falls, then choose Apply ramp.

Freeze a frame

Park the playhead on the frame and press ⇧F (Freeze frame at playhead), or choose Freeze at playhead in the Speed tab. The frame is held as a still.

Smoother slow motion

Under SLOW MOTION, Hold repeats each frame, while Blend and Optical flow make in-between frames. They show in a master rendered on our servers, never in the preview; an export on your own computer holds each source frame. Optical flow is slow to render.

A clip with captions or keyframes cannot be retimed in this version: the Speed tab says so, and you can remove them, retime the clip, and add them back. ⌘Z undoes any speed change.