Change duration and speed of clips

Changing speed of clip

Changing clip speed changes the clip’s duration. Speeding up a clip removes frames, thus shortening the clip duration. In the same way, slowing down a clip repeats frames and thus adds to the length of a clip. For audio clips, a change in speed also changes pitch. The Time Stretch command includes an option to maintain the original pitch of an audio clip at any speed.

Note: When you change the speed of a clip containing interlaced fields, you may need to adjust how Adobe Premiere Elements processes the fields, especially when the speed drops below 100% of the original speed.

Set the duration of a clip

The duration of a video or audio clip is the length of time it plays from its first frame (In point) to its last frame (Out point). The initial duration of a clip is the same as it was when the clip was imported or captured. Most often, you change a clip’s duration by trimming frames from either end. But you can also trim the end of a clip by designating a specific duration.

Unlike video, still images are not limited to the length of the original clip. You can set their duration to any length.

  1. Select a clip in Project view of the Tasks panel or in the Timeline.
  2. Choose Clip > Time Stretch.
  3. In the Time Stretch dialog box, click the Link button  to unlink speed and duration. When linked, changing the duration also changes the playback speed of the clip.
  4. Type a new duration, and click OK.

Reverse the playback of a clip

Reversing a clip plays the clip backward, Out point to In point. You can also reverse the clip and change its speed.

  1. Select the clip in the Timeline.
  2. Choose Clip > Time Stretch.
  3. (Optional) To change the speed of the clip, type a percentage for Speed in the Time Stretch dialog box. A value less the 100% slows down the clip; a value greater than 100% increases its speed.
  4. Select Reverse Speed, and click OK.