How to Speed up Videos in iMovie to Get Outstanding Results

Proper speed adjustment can greatly impact the viewing experience of your videos. In this guide, you will learn how to use iMovie to speed up clips. CapCut, another great software to adjust video speed, has also been discussed. Try it now!

how to speed up video on imovie
CapCut
CapCut2024-10-20
0 min(s)

Speeding up videos is a simple and effective way to enhance your editing projects. Do you want to know how to speed up videos in iMovie? If so, read this article as we discuss how to speed up and slow down videos in iMovie. We have also discussed the video editing software CapCut to adjust the video speed. Get prepared to make captivating and engaging videos here!

Table of content

Why speed up videos: Top benefits

  • Enhances video pacing
  • Speeding up videos significantly improves the pacing of your content. When you accelerate the scenes, dull or slow moments are cut off; thus, your audience remains engaged. This is quite beneficial in vlogs or tutorials, enhancing the overall flow of the video.
  • Reduces long video length
  • If your video is too long, speeding it up is quite helpful. It lessens the length without cutting the essential details, allowing you to keep all the critical information, making it perfect for users with limited time.
  • Highlights key moments
  • Every video has some critical moments that make it memorable. Speeding up videos can speed up the relatively less important parts of the video and highlight the key moments. In this way, your audience will remain focused on the most critical aspects of the video.
  • Adds creative effects
  • Speeding up videos can lead to unique and creative effects. For example, you can create a time-lapse video highlighting important events, like graduation days. You can also fast-forward the video to create dramatic and comedic effects, adding an entertaining element to your videos.

These are the top benefits of speeding up videos. You should now be curious about how to speed up clips in iMovie for MAC and iPhone. The following two sections discuss these.

How to slow down and speed up video in iMovie for MAC

iMovie is a video editing software designed for MAC users and is an excellent tool for creating professional videos. Fast-forwarding videos in iMovie is relatively easy, making it great for speeding up videos. Whether you are working on short films or vlogs, iMovie has the necessary elements to help you edit the video and adjust its speed.

Steps to change video speed on iMovie

    Step
  1. Import the video
  2. Open iMovie and click the "Create" button. Then, select "Movie" and click "Import Media" to upload any video from your MAC. Now, drag and drop the video onto the timeline to begin editing.
  3. 
    Import the video
  4. Step
  5. Adjust the video speed
  6. Once your video is imported, select it by clicking on it. You will notice a speedometer icon in the toolbar above the preview window labeled "Speed." Click on it to see "Slow" or "Fast." To slow a video down in iMovie, choose the "Slow" option. To speed up the video, select the "Fast" option and increase the speed to your preferred speed multiplier.
  7. 
    Adjust the video speed
  8. Step
  9. Export the video
  10. Once you are satisfied, click "File" in the top menu. Then select "Share" and click "File" to save the video. Before saving the final video, you can customize the export settings by choosing your preferred format and resolution.
  11. 
    Export the video

How to fast-forward video in iMovie for iPhone

    Step
  1. Import the video
  2. First, download the app from the app store to speed up and slow down videos in iMovie using an iPhone. Next, open it and tap "Start New Project." Then select "Movie," click "Import," and choose a video of your device's gallery. Once the video is imported, drag and drop it to the timeline.
  3. Step
  4. Adjust the video speed
  5. Once imported, tap on the video clip on the timeline to select it. A toolbar will appear at the bottom of the screen. Next, tap on the speedometer icon to adjust the speed sliders. Move it to the right to fast-forward in iMovie and to the left to slow down the video in iMovie. You can fast-forward the video up to 2x speed.
  6. Step
  7. Export the video
  8. Once you are satisfied, tap "Done" in the top-left corner of the screen and then tap the "Share" icon. Next, select "Save Video" and choose your desired resolution to export the final video.
  9. 
    Fast-forward video in iMovie for iPhone

iMovie is an excellent tool for speeding up movies on iPhone and MAC. However, it doesn't work on Windows. So, users looking for software for both Windows and MAC should choose CapCut. It is one of the best video editing software for controlling video speed.

CapCut: Speed up and slow down videos on Mac/Windows

CapCut is versatile video editing software known for its robust and advanced features. It is also great for adjusting video speed on both Mac and Windows. Its top features for adjusting video speed include a one-click fast-forward option and manual speed adjustment to ensure accuracy. So, whether you want to make time-lapse videos or slow-motion videos, CapCut has you covered.

Steps to use CapCut to adjust video speed

    Step
  1. Import the video
  2. First, open CapCut and click "New Project" to create a new project. Next, click "Import" and select a video from your PC. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the video onto the timeline. If the video is already present in CapCut, go to "My Spaces" to access it.
  3. 
    Import the video
  4. Step
  5. Adjust the video speed
  6. Once the video is imported, click on it in the timeline to select it. You will now see many editing options above the timeline. Click on the speedometer icon labeled "Speed" and choose between "Normal" or "Curve" speed adjustment. Move the slider under "Normal" to the right to speed up the video. To slow down the video, move the slider to the left. You can select different speed-up and slow-down ratios, like 1.5x, 2x, etc.
  7. 
    Adjust the video speed
  8. Step
  9. Export and share
  10. Once you are satisfied with the final video, click the "Export" button in the right corner of the screen. Then, choose your desired resolution and format and click "Export" to save the video to your PC.
  11. 
    Export and share

Key features

  • Adjust the video speed manually
  • CapCut allows you to use the video speed controller to speed up or slow down the videos. The speed sliders enable you to slow down specific video sections, so CapCut provides a lot of flexibility when adjusting video speed.
  • Adjustable video duration
  • Changing the speed of the video in CapCut automatically adjusts the overall duration. Speeding up the footage lessens the runtime while slowing down extends it. This makes it easy to adjust the video duration according to your preferences.
  • Preset curve video speed options
  • CapCut offers a set of preset speed curves that help you apply variable speeds to video. Using these curves, you can quickly accelerate or decelerate parts of your video, leading to smooth transitions between different speeds without needing manual adjustment.

Conclusion

Speeding up videos is essential to improving their pacing and making them engaging. Speeding up videos in iMovie is quite simple and effective. However, iMovie only provides speed adjustment tools for Mac and iPhone users, making its platform's compatibility less versatile. Users looking for software compatible with Mac and Windows should choose CapCut. Its manual speed adjustment options and preset curves make it an excellent choice for adjusting the speed of videos. So, download CapCut today and start enhancing your videos on Windows or Mac. It has all the tools you need to make the perfect video.

FAQs

  1. Will the image quality of the video be affected after slowing down the video on iMovie?
  2. Yes, slowing down a video in iMovie can sometimes reduce quality, especially when you stretch it too much. The slower the speed, the more pixelated the video will look. So, to avoid this situation, always use high-resolution footage. CapCut's slow-motion features work great when you use a video with a higher frame rate. Moreover, you can select high-resolution videos to export in CapCut.
  3. In what situations is it most appropriate to use the slow-down effect for videos?
  4. The slow-down effect is quite impressive for focusing on the critical moments of the video. It works well with sports videos to highlight specific moves, graduation videos to highlight specific moments, or cinematic projects to give emotional depth to the videos. It's also best if you want viewers to focus on a critical aspect of the video. By efficiently using slow-motion effects, you can also slow down timelapse videos. So, it would be best to use software like CapCut and iMovie to slow down a time-lapse video according to your device.
  5. What is the impact of speeding up videos in iMovie on file size?
  6. Speeding up videos in iMovie reduces the file size. However, the reduction is negligible unless the speed increase is extreme. The file size mainly depends upon the video's size, resolution, and compression settings rather than speed. If you want a reduced video file size, focus more on the export settings instead of changing the speed of the videos.
Share to

Hot&Trending

More topics you may like