Over the course of the global pandemic, one social media platform in particular shot up in popularity around the world, and its name is TikTok. The ability to upload amusing or educational video clips appealed to millions of people stuck at home and unable to move around outside. As a result, the platform grew to nearly 91 million monthly active users in the United States alone. Worldwide, the company reported nearly 700 million monthly active users.
So, what does that have to do with changing the speed of a TikTok video? Well, for most people, taking an action shot or a video of a natural phenomenon is as simple as putting their smartphones on video mode and shooting what they see. However, some shots need to be seen at a different speed to make out the details. For instance, a fast-action sporting video may need to be slowed down for other viewers on TikTok to see what’s actually going on. If you’re taking a long video of a sunrise, you may want to speed it up to resemble time-lapse photography, and so on. In all such cases, you’ll need to learn how to change speed on TikTok, either to figure out how to speed up a video or how to slow down a video on TikTok. That’s what we’re here for.
How to Change Video Speed When Recording
The first way is to record the video at a different speed before you upload it for posting to TikTok. The process involves altering the recording speed, and then recording the video normally. Here are the steps:
- Launch the TikTok app and tap the + symbol at the bottom of your screen
- From the icons listed on the right side, tap the one that says Speed
- Above the red Record button, choose the speed change. 1x means regular speed; to the left are options for slow-motion recording, and to the right are options for fast-motion recording. Choose the one you want and tap on it to select it
- Tap the Record button and start recording your video
If you have a premade video or a video that you have edited using a software like Adobe Premiere, you can change the speed and put it up as a new Post in TikTok. The process is described in the following section.
How to Change Video Speed of an Uploaded Video
- Follow Step 1 above, which is to launch the app and tap the + symbol
- Instead of directly changing the speed, tap the Upload icon on the bottom right
- Choose the video upload for which you want to change the speed
- To change the speed, tap the clock icon and then the factor by which you want to slow it down or speed it up
- Follow the on-screen instructions to save the new version of the video – you can now create a new TikTok Post using this slow or fast version
Other Tools and Steps to Change Video Speed on TikTok
There are also several other tools you can use that will give you more freedom in terms of additional features. The following sections show you how to do this on iOS as well as Android devices. These tools are often better than the native TikTok tools because you can record on a different device at a different speed, or manipulate the speed after the recording has been done. Some of these tools, like Filme Lite for iOS, also allow you to add a Reverse effect so your video plays backwards. It’s a lot of fun so you should definitely be aware of these tools.
iOS Change Speed on TikTok
So, how to speed up a video on TikTok on iOS devices like iPhones and iPads? There are two tools and their corresponding steps that we’ll cover here.
#1 – The Default Camera App (iPhone 11 and later models)
An iPhone’s camera app has the ability to record a video in slow motion or add a slow-motion effect to a part of the video after it’s been recorded and before you upload it to TikTok
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Change the Mode
First, launch your camera app and go to Video mode
Next, flip the video view to the front-camera, or selfie camera
Swipe the mode options and select ‘slo-mo’
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Record Your Video
Click the Record button or one of the volume buttons to start recording your “Slofie”, which is Apple’s term for a slow-motion selfie video
The recording display will seem normal but it will be captured at a higher framerate
Stop recording the same way you started it
When you play the video back, the framerate will be reduced and you’ll get a very crisp slow-motion effect on the entire video
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Change to Slow Motion after Recording (Optional)
The above method only works with newer iPhone models and only with the front camera
You can also take a normal video and then slow down a portion of it later on
To do this, take the video as usual
Tap the video thumbnail and tap Edit
Use the vertical sliders to choose the section of the video that you want to slow down
Save the video
#2 – Filme Lite
If you want more control over the speed of your video prior to uploading it to sites like TikTok, you can consider a third-party app like Filme Lite. Based on the powerful desktop application of the same name, Filme Lite is a lightweight mobile version that you can use to speed up or slow down your videos without worrying about framerates and resolutions.
Filme Lite allows you to create videos quickly using ready-to-use templates, split/divide your video into smaller clips, trim it to a specific length/duration, resize or compress videos, add slow-motion or fast-motion effects, and even play your video backward to create a reverse movement effect.
The speed control feature deserves special mention because it can be used in powerful ways. For example, if you have a video that was shot at 60 fps, you can slow it down to -.1x, which will allow you to get an output of just 6 frames per second, giving you a slick super-slow-motion video clip for TikTok. It’s a great tool for slowing down action videos or wherever the subject is moving too fast to be seen at normal speed.
On the fast side, you can push the video by up to 5x, which will result in an output of 300 fps. This allows you to clean up and sharpen videos that were shot at slower speeds. And you have the entire range from 0.1x to 5.0x to play around with, in addition to specific presets that are represented by the large markers on the slider timeline, as explained in the next section.
The app is easy to use and a lot of fun to work with. Make your videos really pop with these amazing editing tools and then share them easily with others or directly to TikTok and other social media accounts.
What’s even better is that you can seamlessly edit your videos on desktop as well, using the Mac or PC version of Filme. They offer extensive tools like contrast, white balance control, cropping, trimming, splitting, and so on. In addition, you can add text captioning or subtitles, add special filters and effects, and even use transitions between scenes so your videos look truly professional. The combination of Filme and Filme Lite will give you everything you need to edit videos across mobile and desktop.
How to Change Speed on TikTok Videos in Filme Lite
- Download and install the Filme Lite app from the App Store for free
- Import your video
- Select the video thumbnail
- Stretch or compress the video using the slider tool below the frame viewer
- Save your video and upload it to TikTok
It’s really that simple. In addition, you’ll have access to all the required tools for making highly polished and professional-looking videos. The biggest advantage is that you can do this after you’ve shot the video, and the quality of the clip will be retained. The best way to get a smooth slow-motion effect is to record the video at a higher frame rate so when you slow down, you don’t see that jerky, frame-by-frame effect. You won’t need to do that if you’re speeding up the clip, though.
Android Change Speed in TikTok
Android phones don’t have default camera apps with this feature, although you may have them on some high-end models. Also, there is a feature that allows you to play a video back at a different speed, but that won’t show up when you upload it to TikTok. Nevertheless, don’t worry – you can find lots of Play Store apps that can get the job done quickly and efficiently. Here are a couple of great choices for that.
#1 – Videoshop Video Editor
This one’s a more comprehensive tool that has other functions but it will serve you well as a slow-motion effect tool for your videos. You can also speed up your clips with this app. Here are the steps to change video speed for TikTok uploads.
- Install the app on your Android device
- Import the video (open it from within the app)
- Edit the video and go to slow-motion and fast mode
- Choose the part of the video to be modified
- Tap DONE when you finish
This app is almost as easy to use as iMyFone Filme Lite for iOS, and it offers many of the same editing functions as well, such as reversing your video, editing it, trimming it, and so on. The process is also quite simple, as you can see, and you have special filters you can use to make your TikTok videos truly unique and eye-catching.
#2 – Efectum
This app also comes highly rated on the Play Store, and it offers slow-motion, fast-motion, video editing, merging, and splitting. It’s a useful tool to have when you take a lot of videos and you need to edit them quickly to share on social media on the fly. The only thing it lacks are transitions, but the developers have promised that the feature is coming soon. Here’s how to create a slo-mo video from a normal clip.
- Install the app on your Android phone or tablet
- Import a video and go into edit mode
- Choose a specific portion of your video
- Tap the Slow or Fast buttons, as required
- That’s it! You can now save the file and share it online
How Can I Use 3x on TikTok?
The whole idea behind TikTok is to make people laugh, and fast-motion shots of everyday actions can be quite funny. Try taking a video of someone eating or talking, then speed it up 3x and see how it makes others burst out in laughter!
3x is also useful when creating time-lapse videos from multiple photos, as we mentioned earlier. This essentially involves taking photos of the same subject from the same angle at specific intervals and then stitching them together into a video.
An app like Filme on iOS or Videoshop on Android will be perfect for this because both of them support multiple media types. Simply import your individual shots into the app, rearrange them in the right order, and make a video to export and upload to social media.
Can I slow down other people’s videos on TikTok?
Yes, absolutely! There are actually a couple of ways to slow down a video that you’re viewing on your feed. The first is to duet it, either in TikTok itself or dueting to another social app like Snapchat. If you’d like to do it more professionally, you can download the video and use a third-party video editor like iMyFone Filme Lite on iOS devices. Both ways are outlined below:
#1 – Dueting in TikTok
Dueting was one of the hottest features in TikTok when it first came out. It allows users to make a video alongside a video posted by someone else. This opened up a whole world of possibilities, where users could sing along with their favorite musicians, do commentary-style videos of other people’s work, and much more. The following steps show you how to slow down video in TikTok using the dueting feature:
- Open a video from your feed and start watching
- While the video is playing, tap the Share icon in the sidebar menu
- Chose Duet as the share option
- When you see the other person’s video on the right, click the clock icon
- This will allow you to control the speed, so you can slow it down and watch the entire video in slow motion
This is actually a workaround method that’s not perfect because each time you want to slow down the video, you’ll need to duet it. The better way is to save the video to your device and use Filme Lite on your iPhone or another app for Android to slow down the video permanently. This is explained in the next section.
#2 – Using Filme or an Android App
You can do this when you want to be able to share just the other video without dueting it with your own. It saved a slow version of the video on your device, which you can then upload to another platform, save on the cloud, or keep for reference. Here’s what to do:
- As in the previous method, start watching the video and tap the Share icon
- This time, choose the Save Video icon next to the Duet option.
- Save the video to a local folder
- Download and launch Filme Lite on your iPhone or use another app on Android
- Open the file in Filme Lite and go to the Speed option below the frame viewer
- Choose the factor by which you want to slow down the video
- Make any other edits you want, like splitting the video, trimming it, or even reversing it so it lays backward
You now have a fully edited slow-motion video of someone else’s TikTok video from your own feed. You can upload it back to TikTok as your own video.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Can you rewind or fast forward TikTok videos?
No, TikTok has not provided this feature as of now. That means, if a video is 60 seconds long, you’ll need to watch the whole thing and then play it again to see a particular portion. Of course, you can always save the video to your phone and then view it on a media player so you can rewind and fast forward to your heart’s pleasure!
Can I hide certain videos?
Yes, this is a feature that was made available in early 2020. To do this, tap your screen and choose Not Interested. Then, select the hiding option you want to apply. That’s it! You won’t get such videos anymore, but it might take a little time for the algorithm to take effect, so expect to see random videos of the type you’ve hidden for at least a while.
How to watch TkTok 2x?
Unfortunately, you can only upload your own videos at speeds other than what it was recorded at. However, that shouldn’t stop you from downloading the file and playing it on a media player. Most media players have a speed control option that lets you watch videos at slower or faster speeds.
Can I share a normal speed video from TikTok to Snapchat?
Technically, this should be possible. However, lots of users have reported that sharing a video from TikTok to Snapchat causes the video to be rendered in slow motion. The problem seems to be with Snapchat’s upload function when fetching videos from TikTok. That’s what users have reported, and the issue is yet to be fixed. One user tried uninstalling and reinstalling TikTok on their device, and it worked. However, after a couple of videos, the problem resurfaced. Right now, the only way to do it seems to be to save the video, make sure it’s at the right speed, use an app like Filme Lite to correct the speed if it’s different and then upload it to Snapchat.
