How to Speed Up a Video on TikTok Before Posting

Speeding up a video is one of the fastest ways to add energy, comedy, or just plain practicality to your TikTok content. This simple editing trick can turn a long, drawn-out process into a punchy timelapse or a normal reaction into a hilarious, chaotic moment. This guide will walk you through exactly how to adjust the speed of your videos directly within the TikTok app, both for the entire clip and for specific sections.

Why Speed Up Your TikToks?

Before getting into the how-to, it’s worth understanding why this feature is so popular. Altering your video’s speed isn’t just a gimmick, it’s a strategic tool used by successful creators to make their content more engaging. Here’s why you might want to increase the tempo:

• Better Pacing and Storytelling: Not every part of your story needs to be shown in real-time. Speeding up the “boring” parts, like chopping vegetables in a recipe video or walking from one room to another in a skit, keeps the viewer engaged and focused on the important moments.
• Comedic Effect: Fast-motion is a classic comedy trope for a reason. Speeding up mundane actions, like getting ready in the morning or cleaning a room, can make them look frantic and funny. The resulting high-pitched “chipmunk” audio only adds to the humor.
• Condensing Time: This is perfect for tutorials, "Get Ready With Me" (GRWM) videos, art projects, or home renovations. A process that takes an hour in real life can be shown in a satisfying 15-second clip, holding the audience's attention much more effectively.
• Following Trends: Many viral trends are built around sped-up audio clips. To get the timing right and make the trend your own, you often need to adjust the speed of your video clips to match the fast-paced sound.

How to Speed Up a Video Directly in the TikTok App

For most day-to-day needs, TikTok's built-in editor has all the power you need. You can speed up your video either while recording it live or after you’ve uploaded a clip from your camera roll. Let's start with adjusting a clip you've already recorded or uploaded.

Step-by-Step Guide for an Entire Video

1. Upload or Record Your Video

Start by opening the TikTok app and tapping the plus (+) icon at the bottom of the screen to create a new post. Here, you can either record new footage using the TikTok camera or tap the "Upload" button on the bottom right to select a video from your phone’s gallery.

2. Navigate to the Editing Screen

Once your video is recorded or selected, tap the red checkmark or "Next" button to proceed. This brings you to the main editing screen where you can add sounds, text, filters, and more. Look for the toolbar on the right side of the screen.

3. Find the Speed Tool

In the right-hand editing toolbar, tap on the "Edit" icon, which often looks like a pair of scissors over a film strip. A new set of options will appear at the bottom. Tap the icon that looks like a speedometer, labeled "Speed."

4. Select Your Speed

A slider will appear at the bottom with several options: 0.5x (slow-motion), 1x (normal speed), 2x (twice as fast), and 3x (three times as fast). To speed up your video, select either 2x or 3x. As you tap each option, you'll see a live preview of how it affects your video. Note that choosing 2x or 3x speed will also speed up the original audio, creating that iconic high-pitched sound.

5. Save and Finish

Once you’re happy with the speed, tap "Save" at the top right of the editing screen. You’ll be taken back to the main post preview screen. From here, you can add text, stickers, or a trendy sound before moving on to write your caption and post.

How to Speed Up Only Specific Parts of a Video

Sometimes you don’t want to speed up the entire video. You might want to show a normal-speed introduction, speed up the middle section, and then return to normal speed for the end. This technique gives your content a more professional, dynamic feel. The key is using the "Split" tool.

Step-by-Step Guide for Specific Clips

1. Enter the Main Edit Interface

Follow the same first steps as above. Upload or record your clips and tap "Next" to get to the main post preview screen. Then, tap the "Edit" icon on the right-hand toolbar.

2. Select Your Clip and Split It

In the clip editor, you'll see your video represented on a timeline at the bottom of the screen. Tap on the clip you want to edit. Now, drag the white playback head (the vertical line) to the start of the section you want to speed up. Tap the "Split" option from the menu at the bottom. This will cut the clip into two parts.

Next, drag the playback head to the end of the section you want to speed up and tap "Split" again. You now have three separate clips in your timeline: the part before, the part you want to speed up (the middle), and the part after.

3. Apply Speed to the Isolated Clip

Tap on the newly created middle clip to select it. With just this clip highlighted, tap on the "Speed" tool from the bottom menu. Select 2x or 3x speed. You'll notice that this speed change only applies to the highlighted clip, leaving the other segments at their normal 1x speed.

4. Preview and Save

Play the entire timeline back to make sure the transitions are smooth and the pacing feels right. If you’re happy, tap "Save" in the top right. You've successfully created a video with variable speed, giving it a much more polished look.

Pro Tip: When you speed up a clip with spoken audio, it may become hard to understand. It's often best to mute the sped-up section and either add text overlays explaining what's happening or cover the entire video with a trending song or sound.

When to Use a Third-Party App

While TikTok's editor is surprisingly capable, there are times when an external editing app provides more flexibility. You might consider using a third-party app if you need to:

• Use More Specific Speeds: Tools like CapCut (made by the same company as TikTok), InShot, or Splice often let you choose more granular speed settings, like 1.25x, 1.5x, or even faster options like 4x and beyond.
• Create "Speed Ramps": This is an advanced technique where the video speed gradually increases or decreases within a single clip. It's a smooth, highly cinematic effect that you can’t achieve with TikTok's simple "split and change" method.
• Maintain Higher Quality: Sometimes, performing a lot of complex edits within TikTok can lead to compression and a slight loss in video quality. Editing your video in a dedicated app and exporting it at high resolution first can help preserve clarity.

For most creators, the built-in tools are more than enough. But as your content becomes more sophisticated, don't be afraid to add an app like CapCut to your workflow - it integrates seamlessly with TikTok.

Final Thoughts

Mastering video speed control is a simple but powerful way to elevate your TikTok content, making it more dynamic, humorous, and watchable. Whether you’re speeding up an entire clip for a quick tutorial or just a small segment for comedic timing, the steps are straightforward and can be handled right inside the app.

Creating great content is only half the battle, getting it published consistently on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts is what drives growth. That’s why we built our social media management tool, Postbase, with a video-first approach. We understand the juggling act of customizing videos for each platform, so we made it simple to schedule your content across all your accounts from one visual calendar, ensuring your posts always go live reliably, every single time.