Free online tool

Slow Down a Song

Slow down a song online, 1.00x to 0.50x. Keep the pitch drop for a slowed edit or use Preserve pitch for practice. Speed, BPM and semitone tables, MP3 export.

Open the free editor: upload MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG or FLAC, adjust speed, reverb, bass, tone, width and space, then export MP3 or a ZIP of many tracks. Everything runs in your browser.

Slowing down a song is the simplest audio edit there is, and the editor above does it in your browser with no upload and no account. Drop in a file, drag Speed below 1.00x, press play, download an MP3. The one decision you have to make is whether the pitch should drop with the speed or stay where it is, and this page spends most of its time on that choice, because it is the difference between a slowed edit and a practice track.

For the full slowed + reverb style with room sound added, go to the slowed reverb maker. For the detailed behaviour of the slider itself, see the speed control page. For the other direction, speed up a song covers 1.00x to 1.50x.

Two ways to slow a song

With the pitch drop (Preserve pitch off)

This is the default. The song plays back at a lower rate, the way a record does when you slow the turntable. Everything gets longer and everything gets lower by the same ratio. At 0.84x a song is about 3 semitones below its original key. Voices get deeper and darker, drums hit softer, and the whole track takes on the heavy, dreamlike quality people call "slowed".

Use this when the mood is the goal: slowed edits for YouTube and TikTok, deeper vocal versions, daycore, or when you simply like how a song sounds lower.

Without the pitch drop (Preserve pitch on)

Turn on Preserve pitch and the song plays slower but stays in its original key. The browser time-stretches the audio, spreading it out in time without changing the frequencies. A guitar part at 0.75x is still in the same key and the same octave, just at three quarters of the tempo. Preserve pitch changes the live preview only; exported files keep the speed-linked pitch, so for an in-key file use Audacity's Change Tempo or a DAW time-stretch.

Use this when the content is the goal: learning a solo, transcribing a bass line, working out lyrics, rehearsing choreography at a slower count, or slowing a lecture or podcast. Pitch-preserved playback can add a slight warble or softened transients at extreme settings, so stay above about 0.70x when you need it to sound clean. The how to slow down a song without changing pitch guide covers this mode in more depth.

Speed, tempo and pitch at a glance

The Speed slider is a simple multiplier on the original tempo. The pitch column only applies with Preserve pitch off.

Two things stand out. First, the pitch change is not linear: each 0.05x step costs about one semitone near the top of the range and more than that near the bottom. Second, a full octave at 0.50x is a very large change. Few songs survive it with vocals intact, but it is useful for isolating a fast drum pattern or a dense lick for practice with Preserve pitch on.

How to slow down a song

1. Add the file. MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG and FLAC all decode in the browser.
2. Decide on pitch. Leave Preserve pitch off for a slowed edit. Turn it on for practice or transcription.
3. Drag Speed. For a slowed edit, 0.80x to 0.90x. For practice, whatever tempo you can play along to, often 0.60x to 0.80x.
4. Leave Reverb at 0% unless you want the slowed + reverb sound. Slowing alone is a clean effect.
5. Optionally adjust Bass and Tone. Slowed tracks with pitch drop often want a few dB of Bass and slightly lower Tone. Practice tracks are usually best left flat.
6. Press play, listen, download. The export is an MP3 at 96 kbps and 32 kHz.

Settings for common reasons to slow a song

The transcription row boosts Bass and cuts Tone to push the bass guitar forward and the cymbals back. The lyrics row raises Tone slightly so consonants stay crisp.

Slowing a song in bulk

Add every file, click Select All Tracks, set Speed once and click Download All for a ZIP of MP3s. Settings apply to whichever tracks are selected, so a set of practice tracks at 0.70x and a set of slowed edits at 0.84x can sit in the same list. Custom presets, saved with Create preset, make it quick to jump between the two jobs. Format-specific notes live on the slow down MP3 page and its siblings.

What slowing does to sound quality

Slowing with the pitch drop is a clean operation. Resampling introduces almost nothing of its own, so the quality of the result is the quality of the source. The catch is that a low-bitrate MP3 has compression artifacts that are stretched along with the music and become audible. Start from a 320 kbps or lossless file when you have the choice.

Slowing with Preserve pitch on is a harder job for the software, and extreme settings can produce a watery texture on sustained notes or a softening of drum attacks. Between 0.75x and 0.95x it is barely noticeable on most material. Below 0.70x you will hear it, which is usually acceptable for practice and not acceptable for a published edit.

The export is MP3 at 96 kbps and 32 kHz. That is fine for sharing, for practice and for any platform that re-encodes uploads. It is not a lossless master. There is no WAV export, so if you need one, use a DAW.