Audacity: Time stretching and pitch shifting clips

Joe at Claricast·Feb 2026

Demo summary

The narrator demonstrates using the Alt/Option key to drag the edge of a clip for time stretching and using keyboard shortcuts to shift pitch independently.

Step-by-step

Hover your cursor over the top right edge of an audio clip
Hold the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac) until the clock icon appears
Drag the edge of the clip to time stretch the audio
Select the clip and hold Alt/Option while pressing the Up or Down arrow keys to shift the pitch

Options

Increase or decrease pitch by semitone increments
Slow down or speed up audio for sound design effects

Tips

Use these tools independently to avoid the common issue where speeding up audio automatically increases the pitch

Highlights

“They've made it really simple to do that.”

All demos from “What's New In Audacity 2026 (Audacity Accelerator Update)”

6:311:35Non-destructive editing and clip dragging in AudacityThe narrator demonstrates how to use the new clip handle bar to drag audio segments and how to recover deleted sections using the non-destructive trim tool.Audacity· AI Audio Editor
8:101:04Copying smart clips between Audacity sessionsA demonstration of copying an audio segment from one project and pasting it into another as a 'smart clip' to retain editing flexibility.Audacity· AI Audio Editor
10:001:53Applying real-time effects in AudacityThe narrator shows how to add live, non-destructive effects like EQ, compression, and reverb to a track while monitoring the output and visual response.Audacity· AI Audio Editor
11:550:53Using Master Effects and LimitersThe demonstration shows how to apply a limiter to the master bus in Audacity to prevent clipping across all tracks simultaneously.Audacity· AI Mastering
12:521:00Time stretching and pitch shifting clipsCurrentThe narrator demonstrates using the Alt/Option key to drag the edge of a clip for time stretching and using keyboard shortcuts to shift pitch independently.Audacity· AI Audio Editor
13:550:30Switching timeline to beats and measuresA walkthrough of changing the timeline ruler from seconds to musical beats and measures and enabling the snap-to-grid feature.Audacity· AI Audio Editor
Watch “What's New In Audacity 2026 (Audacity Accelerator Update)” →

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6:311:35Non-destructive editing and clip dragging in AudacityThe narrator demonstrates how to use the new clip handle bar to drag audio segments and how to recover deleted sections using the non-destructive trim tool.Joe at Claricast
8:101:04Copying smart clips between Audacity sessionsA demonstration of copying an audio segment from one project and pasting it into another as a 'smart clip' to retain editing flexibility.Joe at Claricast
10:001:53Applying real-time effects in AudacityThe narrator shows how to add live, non-destructive effects like EQ, compression, and reverb to a track while monitoring the output and visual response.Joe at Claricast
12:521:00Time stretching and pitch shifting clipsCurrentThe narrator demonstrates using the Alt/Option key to drag the edge of a clip for time stretching and using keyboard shortcuts to shift pitch independently.Joe at Claricast
13:550:30Switching timeline to beats and measuresA walkthrough of changing the timeline ruler from seconds to musical beats and measures and enabling the snap-to-grid feature.Joe at Claricast
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