01 / LESS SPEED, MORE TIME TO LISTEN
How to slow down a recording and keep its pitch
When a passage moves faster than your hands or voice can follow, give yourself more time without changing the notes. This free music practice player opens your own recording in the browser. At 60% speed, a ten-second passage takes about seventeen seconds to play, while staying in its original key. No camera, microphone or sign-in is needed.
- Open an audio file. Choose a recording from your device. Nothing starts playing automatically. Use a file you own or have permission to practice with.
- Choose a comfortable speed. Start at 75%, or select 60% for a particularly fast passage. Pitch preservation stays enabled when your browser supports it.
- Find the difficult phrase. Move along the position slider, then mark its beginning with A and its end with B. You can also enter the times in seconds.
- Turn on Repeat A–B and press Play. Listen once, then join in. Pause whenever you need to reset your fingering, take a breath or adjust the boundaries.
Changing speed is different from changing key. Slower playback here gives you longer to play the same notes; it does not transpose a song to suit your vocal range. Keep your instrument in the recording’s tuning. If the original recording is already out of tune, slowing it down will not correct that.
02 / REPEAT THE PART THAT NEEDS WORK
Choose an A–B loop that helps you practice
A is where each repetition begins; B is where it returns to A. Put A slightly before the difficult entry so you can hear the pulse leading into it. Place B after the phrase resolves. Cutting directly through an attack or a breath can make the next repetition harder to follow.
Listen to your selection before joining in. Use Jump to A to check the start, and move either boundary if a note gets clipped. Keep at least one second between A and B. A two-bar passage is often easier to understand than one isolated note because you can still hear its rhythm and direction.
Leave Repeat off to hear the whole recording. With Repeat on, playback returns to A at B, including when B is the end of the file. This is a practice loop: a small gap, click or slight timing variation can occur at the return. It is not a seamless loop editor.
03 / THREE WAYS TO USE ONE PLAYER
Guitar, piano and singing practice examples
The times below are illustrative. Open your own recording and find the equivalent passage; no song or backing track is bundled with these exercises.
Guitar: catch a late chord change
Suppose you keep arriving late when a recording moves from G to D. Set A to 42 seconds and B to 49 seconds, including the beat before the change. Choose 70% and listen through one repetition before playing. Concentrate on preparing the next shape while the previous chord rings.
After three clean repetitions, move to 80%, then 90% and finally 100%. If the change becomes rushed, return to the previous speed. Turn Repeat off afterward and play through the surrounding phrase. The goal is to bring the transition back into the music, rather than become comfortable only inside the loop.
Piano: bring a fast passage back from 60%
For an uneven run, try A at 18 seconds, B at 26 seconds and speed at 60%. Use the same fingering on each repetition. First listen for even spacing, then play along without trying to compensate for mistakes by rushing the next note.
Raise the speed to 65% after three accurate attempts. Continue in five-percentage-point steps while the rhythm stays controlled. You make each change yourself; there is no automatic tempo trainer. Slowed piano attacks may sound softer or slightly watery even though the pitches stay unchanged.
Singing: give a dense phrase room to breathe
Choose one short phrase with a difficult rhythm or crowded consonants. Start the loop before the vocal entry and finish after the last word. At 70%, listen for where each syllable falls, then sing the phrase gently in its original key. Pause between repetitions whenever you need a full breath.
Increase toward normal speed once the words and rhythm feel settled. The player does not listen to your voice or assess your intonation. If the song’s key is uncomfortable, use a more suitable recording; this tool keeps the original key rather than moving it.
04 / KEEP YOUR PLACE FOR NEXT TIME
Save a practice setup, then reopen the same audio
Use Save setup to download a small JSON file with your speed, A/B points and Repeat setting. It includes identifying information about the original file, including its name, so the player can check that you restore the setup against the right recording. It contains no audio.
Keep both files. On your next visit, open the same audio file first, then choose Restore setup and select the JSON. A mismatch produces a message rather than applying potentially wrong loop points. Restoring does not press Play for you. Renaming, editing or replacing the original audio can prevent the setup from matching.
Closing the tab or clearing the file ends the session. The player does not save your recording to an account or cloud library. A saved setup helps you resume a specific exercise; it is not a downloaded slower version of the song.
05 / KNOW WHAT YOU ARE OPENING
Supported files, sound quality and privacy
Try MP3, ordinary PCM WAV or AAC audio in an M4A container. A file extension alone does not guarantee playback: the browser must support the encoding inside. Files are limited to 50 MiB and 20 minutes in this player. Protected streaming downloads and links from YouTube or Spotify cannot be opened here.
Your selected audio is played locally rather than uploaded for processing. File selection grants access to that file, not your whole folder or music library. The website still loads its normal scripts, fonts and analytics; local audio playback does not mean the entire page makes no network requests. Read our privacy policy for site-wide details.
Pitch preservation aims to keep the notes steady while timing changes. It cannot keep every detail of the sound identical. Dense mixes, fast attacks and large slowdowns may sound smeared or metallic. Try 75% instead of 50%, use a cleaner recording, and listen at a comfortable volume. Headphones can make small rhythmic details easier to hear.
Keep this tab visible while practicing. Switching away pauses playback, and returning does not restart it. Browser and device behavior can vary, so check your own recording and output before a longer session.
06 / GET BACK TO THE PHRASE
If a file, loop or saved setup does not work
- The file will not open: check its size and length, then try an unprotected MP3 or PCM WAV. Renaming an extension does not convert its encoding.
- You cannot hear playback: press Play, raise the player’s volume and check the device’s output. If playback is blocked, press Play again after checking the message.
- The loop misses a note: move A earlier or B later. Leave at least one second between them and audition the phrase before playing along.
- A setup will not restore: open the original, unchanged audio first. Select the JSON setup, not another audio file, for Restore.
- Speed controls are unavailable: this browser cannot provide the requested pitch-preserving playback. You can still practice at 100%, or try a current browser with that support.
For a problem you cannot resolve, contact support with the browser, file format and visible message. You do not need to send your recording. To make your own chord accompaniment instead, explore the separate chord and loop exercises or song practice guides.
07 / QUICK ANSWERS
Music slowdown questions
Can I slow down an MP3 without changing its pitch?
Yes, in a browser that supports pitch-preserving playback. Open your MP3 and select a speed between 50% and 150%. The original key stays the same, although the sound can become less natural at slower speeds. Unsupported browsers keep playback at 100%.
Can I loop just one part of a song?
Yes. Set A at the beginning and B at the end, leaving at least one second between them, then turn on Repeat A–B. The player returns to A after reaching B. Small gaps or clicks can occur; the loop is for practice rather than seamless audio editing.
Can I start at 60% speed and gradually increase it?
Yes. Select 60%, practice a short passage, then raise the speed manually in five-percentage-point steps. Try three accurate repetitions before increasing it. The player does not count repetitions or change speed automatically.
Does my audio file get uploaded?
The player opens the file locally and does not upload its audio to a server. The page still loads website assets and normal site analytics. You choose which file to open; this does not give the player access to the rest of your music library.
Can I save my loop and continue later?
Use Save setup to download a small JSON file containing the audio file’s identifying information, speed and loop settings. Keep the original audio separately. On a later visit, open that same audio file, then restore the JSON setup. Restoring settings does not start playback.
Can I download the slowed song or change its key?
This player changes how your local file plays during practice. It does not export a slowed audio file, transpose the key, separate vocals or import songs from streaming services. Saving a setup downloads settings only, not music.