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⁠5.6.4. Stretching Tracks

You can stretch or compress tracks, so that they take up more or less time.
  • The "Change Tempo" tool adjusts speed but not pitch. Sound quality is lowered significantly.
  • The "Change Speed" tool adjusts speed and pitch. Sound quality is less affected.
  1. Click on the track info portion of the track that you want to adjust.
  2. Choose Effect → Change Tempo or Effect → Change Speed. If you input a positive number, the speed increases and the audio takes less time. If you input a negative number, the speed decreases and the audio takes more time.
  3. Click Preview to hear some of the audio with the adjusted speed. Audacity does not change the audio when you preview the change.
  4. Click OK to apply the change. Audacity processes the audio. Your change does not appear immediately.
We changed the speed of one of our tracks. We are not concerned about the sound quality, because this is a start-up sound for us. When you edit audio to which other people will listen, you should be careful to preserve the sound quality.