Speed at a glance

Frame Job can play a video or audio clip faster or slower, change its speed over time, play it backwards and hold one of its frames. This page shows which tool fits the job and what limits apply to all of them.

Menu: Clip ▸ Speed…Clip ▸ Speed Ramp…Clip ▸ Retime Range…
Keys: ⌥-drag
Where: Clip tab ▸ Clip sub-tab ▸ Speed section
Agent tools: set_speedrate_stretchadd_speed_rampretime_range

Pick the right tool

You want to	Use	What happens on the timeline
Play a clip at one new speed	Clip ▸ Speed… or Rate in the Speed section	The clip’s start stays and its length changes. Later clips don’t move.
Make a clip last an exact length	Fit to	The rate changes so the clip plays in the length you type.
Stretch a clip by eye	Rate stretch, `⌥`-dragging its end edge	The clip gets longer or shorter and still plays the same source.
Speed up and slow down inside a clip	A speed ramp	The clip keeps its place and length, and plays more or less of its file.
Speed up or slow down a stretch of the whole timeline	Retime Range	Every unlocked track changes together, and what follows moves up or back.
Speed up the typing in a screen recording	Speed Up Typing	Only the stretches of typing change.
Play a clip backwards	Reverse	Nothing on the timeline moves.
Hold one frame still	Freeze Frame	A still clip fills a gap opened at the playhead.

A rate is a multiple of normal speed: ×1 is normal, ×2 is twice as fast and half as long, and ×0.5 is half speed.

Sound follows the Keep pitch setting, which is on for a new clip.

Which clips take speed

Speed works on media clips, meaning clips of a video or audio file. Other clips have no source to speed up. Retime Range is the one exception.

Clip	Speed…, Fit to, rate stretch, Speed Ramp…, Reverse and Freeze Frame	Retime Range…
A video or audio file	Yes, but Freeze Frame needs a picture	Yes
A still image, a freeze frame, text, a shape or an adjustment clip	No	Stretched or squeezed with the range
A graphic	No. Its timing comes from its module and its Length.	Stretched or squeezed, and it keeps its Length
A nest	No	Frame Job won’t retime a range with a nest in it. Move the range off the nest, or retime inside it.
A caption page with timed words	No	Frame Job won’t retime a range with one in it. Move the range off it.

When a selection mixes clip kinds, each command treats it differently:

Clip ▸ Speed… is available when the selection holds at least one media clip. It opens on those clips and skips the rest. With none selected it’s dimmed.
Clip ▸ Speed Ramp… is available only with exactly one media clip selected.
The Speed section appears only when every selected clip is a media clip.
With several clips selected, the Timing section, which holds Reverse, also appears only when every one is a media clip.
⌥-dragging the end edge of any other clip is an ordinary trim.

Linked clips

After Detach Audio, a picture and its sound are linked. Frame Job won’t change a linked clip’s rate or direction, or give it a Speed action, until you attach it again. The foot of the inspector shows the reason, for example “clip 4 is linked to clip 7: Attach Audio before changing its speed or direction”. A rate stretch on a linked clip doesn’t move and shows no reason.

Keep pitch isn’t a rate, so you can still change it on a linked clip.

Rate range

A clip can play anywhere from ×0.1 to ×1000. What happens when you ask for more depends on where you ask.

Where	A rate past a limit
The Speed, Speed Ramp and Retime Range sheets	The field won’t take it. Each sheet prints ×0.1 – ×1000 beside its buttons.
Rate in the Speed section	It’s set to the nearest limit.
Fit to	The rate stops at the limit, so the clip ends up a different length from the one you typed.
A rate stretch	The clip stops following the drag at the last length inside the limits.

Limits at a glance

Limit	Value
Slowest rate	×0.1
Fastest rate	×1000
Fastest rate that still has sound	×12, with Keep pitch on or off
Freeze frame length when none is given	2 s

What else to expect:

Above ×12 the picture plays and the sound is left out of the preview and the export. Frame Job asks before an edit takes a clip with sound past ×12. See Sound at high speed.
On a ramped clip, one rate above ×12 anywhere in the ramp silences the whole clip.
A speed ramp never changes the clip’s start or length. Frame Job won’t make an edit that would play the clip past the end of its file.
Clip ▸ Speed Ramp… works on one clip at a time, and offers the Ease In Out and Linear curves and four hold values.
Rendered sound. A ramp is silent in the preview until its sound has been rendered. So is a clip at any constant speed but ×1 with Keep pitch off. See Keep pitch and Sound on a ramp.
After a steep slow-down with Keep pitch on, a ramp’s sound can lag the picture by up to about 24 ms.
A reversed clip shows a slate until its backwards copy has been rendered.
Synchronize Audio doesn’t take clips that are reversed, ramped, or more than 0.2% away from ×1. See Synchronize Audio.

With an agent

set_speed, add_speed_ramp and a speed in set_action_end bring a rate past a limit to that limit. retime_range is the exception: it won’t take a rate outside ×0.1 to ×1000. set_speed, add_speed_ramp and retime_range don’t accept a rate of zero or less.

Asking for a speed on anything but a media clip is an error, “clip 12 is not a media clip”, so the agent can correct the call.

add_speed_ramp can also use any action curve and any hold from 0 to 0.9, which is more than the sheet offers. See Tools: speed and time.