Read on for three ways to speed up or slow down a video clip in Adobe Premiere Pro. Or watch the two-minute video tutorial!

Change Clip Speed Manually

To manually change the clip speed or duration of a clip in Premiere Pro, select the clip in the timeline and press the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + R.” A window labeled “Clip Speed / Duration” will appear.

A window with clip speed settings in Premiere Pro

This window can also be accessed by right-clicking on the clip and choosing “Speed/Duration” from the context menu.

Clip Speed

We can increase or decrease the speed by a percentage with the first setting. For example, typing 150 in the Speed setting will make the clip play 50% faster than normal. Typing in 50 will make the clip play at half speed.

If the clip is part of a larger source clip, the starting and ending points will remain the same.

Clip Duration

We can use the Duration setting to input an amount of time we want the clip to take up in the timeline. The clip will contract (speed up) or expand (slow down) to fill the amount of time we enter. The format for this duration is: Hours; Minutes; Seconds; Milliseconds.

For example, we can tell Premiere Pro to make the clip exactly three seconds in length by entering 00;00;03;00.

Again, if the clip is part of a larger source clip, the starting and ending points will remain the same.

If we want to make the clip fit into a specific gap on the timeline, but we don’t know that gap’s length, read on to the Rate Stretch Tool section.

Other Speed Options

There are a few other options available on the Clip Speed / Duration window.

We can check the box labeled “Reverse Speed” and this will cause the clip to be played in reverse.

If there is audio associated with the clip, we can check “Maintain Audio Pitch” to… well… maintain the audio pitch.

The “Ripple Edit” check box will cause trailing clips to shift when the clip size is changed.

Rate Stretch Tool

The Rate Stretch Tool in Premiere Pro allows us to drag the ends of a clip to fit a gap in the timeline. The clip’s start and end locations will remain the same, but the speed will adjust so the clip will fit its new length.

The Rate Stretch Tool is found by clicking and holding the Ripple Edit Tool in the toolbar. It can also be activated using the keyboard shortcut “R” while hovering in the Timeline workspace.

Making the clip smaller on the timeline will increase its playback speed. Making it longer will cause it to play slower.

This is my favorite way to adjust the speed of a clip in Adobe Premiere Pro. We don’t need to guess the percentage or know the duration we’re looking for. It’s also easy and better to visualize in the timeline.

I hope this helped!

SEE ALSO: How to Start a New Project in Premiere Pro

Video Tutorial

Change Video Speed in Adobe Premiere Pro
Brandon Stocking

Brandon Stocking

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