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543Final Cut Pro User Guide
Retime clips to create speed effects
Intro to retiming clips in Final Cut Pro
You can adjust a clip’s speed settings to create fast-motion or slow-motion effects. You
can also reverse a clip, rewind a segment of a clip, apply variable speed effects (also called
speed ramping) to a clip selection, and create instant replays and jump cuts. By default,
Final Cut Pro maintains the audio pitch of any speed adjustment, but you can turn off this
feature to accentuate the speed effect.
You can’t apply speed changes to still images, generators, titles, and themes in
Final Cut Pro.
Change clip speed in Final Cut Pro
In Final Cut Pro, you can make both constant and variable speed changes to your clips
while preserving the audio’s pitch.
Note: Speed settings are applied to the specific instance of the selected clip only. They
are not applied to that clip’s source media file on your Mac or storage device. To create a
media file with the applied speed effects, export the clip as a QuickTime movie. See Export
final mastering files with Final Cut Pro.
Apply a constant speed change
Applying a constant speed change to a range selection or a whole clip alters the selection’s
playback speed by a uniform percentage. For example, applying a speed setting of 25
percent to the selection makes the entire selection play in slow motion.