Slowing Down TikTok Videos: An Extremely Valuable Option

You’re watching a TikTok tutorial video, but it’s going too fast?
You want to get in on a popular trend and slow down the content you’re uploading to the social media platform?

TikTok makes those options available to viewers and content creators.

When TikTok first launched, the processes weren’t available — but they’re now among the app’s most popular features.

Slowing down TikTok content as you watch can be helpful in many contexts other than viewing tutorials. If you’re having trouble understanding the “joke” in a viral video or want to focus on one person’s actions in a multi-character post, watching at half-speed can help.

And if you’re a content creator trying to impress an audience and land on the For You page, being able to use TikTok’s native editor to slow down the action in your video is another important tool in your toolbox.

Here’s how each of those options works.

How to Slow Down a TikTok Video You’re Watching

This is an easy one.

1. While you’re viewing a TikTok post, press and hold your thumb or finger on the screen until a popup window opens.
2. Scroll the window’s top menu until you find the “Playback speed” icon, and tap it.
3. Another window will appear. Choosing the “0.5x” option will resume playback of the video at half-speed. (The 1.5x and 2x choices let you speed up playback, at either one-and-a-half or double speed, respectively.)

When you scroll to the next video, it will play at normal speed. Your action only affects the video you are currently viewing.

How to Slow Down a TikTok Video While Editing

There are two methods you can use to create a video at slower speeds.

Before Recording

This approach slows the action from start to finish while you’re recording.

1. Open the TikTok Create screen by tapping the “+” icon on the app’s home screen.
2. Choose the length of the video you want to record, using the menu above the Record button.
3. Click the “Speed” icon (it looks like a small clock with “1x” at the bottom) on the right-hand menu.
4. A menu will appear next to the icon. Tap “0.5” to record at half-speed or “0.3” to record at approximately one-third speed. (The “2x” and “3x” options let you speed up the video by factors of two or three, respectively.)
5. Record your video as usual. When you’re finished, you’ll notice the video preview playing at the slower speed you’ve chosen. Edit and post normally after that.

Remember that slowing the video down means it will last for twice as long — so if you want to record 15 seconds’ worth of footage that will be slowed to half-speed, you have to choose “60s” instead of “15s” as the length of your video before you record.

After Recording

If your goal is to slow down an entire video, you’ll have to use the method we’ve previously described (unless you want to go through an unnecessary process of splitting the video into clips).

This option, instead, is for those who want to slow down just parts of their recorded content. For example, it’s ideal if you’ve shot a tutorial and want to show specific actions performed at a slower speed, with the rest of the content running at normal speed.

1. Record your video in the “Create” screen and then hit the checkmark to move to the “Edit” screen.
2. Open the TikTok editor by tapping the “Edit” icon (a small screen) in the right-hand menu.
3. Tap “Edit” (this time, the icon is a pair of scissors) and divide the video into clips, so the one(s) you want to slow down is separated from the rest.
4. Choose the clip that should play more slowly and select “Speed” in the bottom menu.
5. A slider will appear. Move the slider to choose the slower speed you want to use; the scale runs from one-tenth to nine-tenths speed. (You can also use the slider to make the clip play as much as ten times faster than normal.)
6. Once done choosing your desired speed(s), you can move forward by hitting the red arrow at the top of the screen, finish, and post.

Casual surfers may not need to know about these functions, but they can be incredibly useful (or fun!) when the situation calls for slowing down a TikTok video.