To change pitch in Audacity, select the audio, open Effect > Pitch and Tempo > Change Pitch, type the semitones (−2 lowers a whole step), tick “Use high quality stretching (slow)” and apply. In Audacity 3.5 or newer, select a clip and press Alt + Up or Down arrow instead. No Audacity? Try our browser-based audio pitch changer.
Two ways to change pitch in Audacity 3.x
Audacity 3.x offers a destructive effect for any selection and, since version 3.5 (April 2024), a non-destructive pitch control on each clip. Both keep the tempo. Menu names below come from the official Audacity manual and the Audacity support guide; Audacity 4 is in alpha testing and may place them differently.
| Method | Where | Steps | Undo later? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change Pitch effect | Effect > Pitch and Tempo > Change Pitch | Semitones, key from/to, Hz from/to or percent | Only with Edit > Undo; the audio is rewritten | Any selection, exact percent or Hz values |
| Clip pitch (3.5+) | Select clip, Alt + Up/Down, or clip menu (…) > Pitch and Speed… | 1 semitone per key press; dialog adds cents | Yes: click the pitch indicator; Ctrl+click (Cmd+click) resets | Whole songs and vocals (“optimize for voice”) |
How to change pitch in Audacity with the Change Pitch effect
- Open the file: File > Import > Audio (or drag the file onto the Audacity window).
- Select the part to change: click in the track, or press Ctrl + A (Cmd + A on a Mac) to select everything.
- Choose Effect > Pitch and Tempo > Change Pitch.
- Type the change in Semitones (half-steps): −1 to −3 lowers a song for a lower voice, +1 to +3 raises it. A minus sign means down.
- Tick Use high quality stretching (slow). It uses the SBSMS algorithm and keeps the exact length of the selection; without it, the length can change slightly.
- Press Preview, listen to the highest part of the song, then press Apply (OK in some versions).
- Save the result with File > Export Audio… as MP3 or WAV.
The “Pitch from” note and “Frequency (Hz) from” value are only a guess at the first clear note of the selection. The manual says they are not key detection, so find the real key with the song key finder before you choose “to”.
How to pitch shift a clip without rendering (Audacity 3.5 and newer)
- Click the clip so it is selected.
- Press Alt + Up arrow to raise it one semitone or Alt + Down arrow to lower it. Repeat for more steps.
- For cents, open the … menu at the top right of the clip and choose Pitch and Speed…, then type semitones and cents.
- For voice or singing, tick the option to optimize for voice in that dialog. It preserves formants, so a raised voice sounds less like a chipmunk.
- The clip shows the shift (for example ↑4). Click it to change the value, or Ctrl + click (Cmd + click) to reset.
This is the lossless way to try several keys: the audio is only rendered when you export or apply another effect, as the Audacity support guide explains.
Semitones to Audacity “Percent Change”: reference table
Audacity’s Change Pitch dialog links semitones, Hz and percent. The table gives the exact percent for each step, what A4 = 440 Hz becomes, and what the same shift would do to a 3:00 song if you used Change Speed and Pitch by mistake. One semitone is a ratio of 21/12 ≈ 1.0595, and 100 cents make one semitone.
| Semitones | Percent Change | Frequency ratio | A4 440 Hz becomes | Change Speed and Pitch: speed ×, 3:00 song lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -12 | -50.000 % | ×0.5000 | 220.00 Hz | ×0.500 → 6:00 |
| -7 | -33.258 % | ×0.6674 | 293.66 Hz | ×0.667 → 4:30 |
| -5 | -25.085 % | ×0.7492 | 329.63 Hz | ×0.749 → 4:00 |
| -3 | -15.910 % | ×0.8409 | 369.99 Hz | ×0.841 → 3:34 |
| -2 | -10.910 % | ×0.8909 | 392.00 Hz | ×0.891 → 3:22 |
| -1 | -5.613 % | ×0.9439 | 415.30 Hz | ×0.944 → 3:11 |
| +1 | +5.946 % | ×1.0595 | 466.16 Hz | ×1.059 → 2:50 |
| +2 | +12.246 % | ×1.1225 | 493.88 Hz | ×1.122 → 2:40 |
| +3 | +18.921 % | ×1.1892 | 523.25 Hz | ×1.189 → 2:31 |
| +5 | +33.484 % | ×1.3348 | 587.33 Hz | ×1.335 → 2:15 |
| +7 | +49.831 % | ×1.4983 | 659.26 Hz | ×1.498 → 2:00 |
| +12 | +100.000 % | ×2.0000 | 880.00 Hz | ×2.000 → 1:30 |
| 432 Hz tuning | -1.818 % | ×0.9818 | 432.00 Hz | -31.77 cents: use Frequency 440 → 432 |
For other values use our semitone calculator.
Change Pitch vs Change Speed and Pitch vs Change Tempo
Five effects sit under Effect > Pitch and Tempo. Picking the wrong one is the most common Audacity mistake: the song ends up faster or slower when you only wanted a new key.
| Effect | Pitch | Speed / length | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change Pitch | Changes | Kept | New key for singing, harmonies, lower or higher voice |
| Change Speed and Pitch | Changes | Changes (multiplier 0.01–50, vinyl rpm presets) | Record-style speed-up, nightcore, correcting a tape or vinyl transfer |
| Change Tempo | Kept | Changes (percent, BPM from/to, length) | Slow down or speed up practice tracks without changing the key |
| Sliding Stretch | Can glide | Can glide | A gradual change: e.g. +3 semitones at the start to +1 at the end |
| Paulstretch | Kept | Slows only (stretch factor) | Extreme slow-downs and ambient textures |
Change speed without changing pitch in Audacity
Use Change Tempo, or in Audacity 3.4+ hold Alt (Option on a Mac) over a clip edge until a clock cursor appears and drag it; right-click the clip header and choose Change Speed for an exact value. The support guide warns that Change Tempo and Paulstretch leave permanent artefacts, so prefer the clip method. The general answer, outside Audacity, is on how to change pitch without changing speed, and pitch vs tempo explains the difference.
How to change pitch gradually or over time
Sliding Stretch has an initial and a final pitch shift, so the pitch glides across the selection. A Time Track (Tracks > Add New > Time Track) changes speed and pitch together over time and always affects the whole project.
How to change the key of a song in Audacity
- Find the current key (e.g. G major) with a key finder.
- Decide the new key and count the semitones between them; this semitone guide has the full table (G → E = −3).
- In Change Pitch, set Pitch “from” G and “to” E, or type −3 in Semitones. The manual advises checking the sign in the Semitones box, because the same “to” note can mean up or down.
- Apply to every track of the song, so vocals and backing stay in the same key.
In Audacity, changing the key and changing the pitch are the same operation on audio; the difference only matters for sheet music, as key change vs pitch change explains. To hear several keys fast, the online key changer shows the new key name for every step.
Lower or raise pitch without losing quality
- Stay small: ±1 to ±3 semitones sounds natural on most songs; beyond ±5, artefacts and “chipmunk” or “giant” voices become obvious.
- Voices: use clip pitch with optimize for voice (formants kept). The Change Pitch effect has no formant option.
- Render once: each rendered stretch or pitch change costs a little quality, so set the final value first, then export.
- Start from WAV when you can and export WAV or 320 kbps MP3.
- Tick high quality stretching for piano and drums; it is slower but cleaner.
Pitch correction in Audacity (Auto-Tune style)
Audacity has no built-in pitch correction. The support guide suggests a plugin such as MuseFX PitchFix as a realtime effect. For alternatives, see the best pitch correction software. Change Pitch moves every note by the same amount; it does not fix out-of-tune notes.
No Audacity? Change pitch in the browser
If you only need a song in a new key, a browser tool is faster than installing Audacity: open the file, press −2, listen, download. The online pitch changer on our home page and the pitch shifter (with dry/wet mix for harmonies) run on your device; nothing is uploaded. For voices, the vocal pitch changer has formant correction on by default, and the pitch and tempo changer covers speed and BPM.
In our test exports (desktop Edge, 11 WAV files), the audio pitch changer’s worst pitch error was 0.041 cents with 0.000 % length change; how our pitch shifting works lists the method. On a phone, follow changing pitch on mobile; on a Mac, GarageBand is the other free option.
Frequently asked questions
Can Audacity change pitch without changing speed?
Yes. Change Pitch and the clip pitch control (Alt + Up/Down) both keep the tempo. Only Change Speed and Pitch changes both.
How do I lower the pitch in Audacity?
Select the audio, open Effect > Pitch and Tempo > Change Pitch and type a negative number of semitones, e.g. −2 for a whole step down (−10.910 %). On a clip, press Alt + Down arrow once per semitone.
Can Audacity change the key of a song?
Yes. Set Pitch “from” and “to” in Change Pitch, or enter the semitones between the two keys. Audacity does not detect the key, so find it first.
Does Audacity have pitch correction or formant shift?
No built-in pitch correction; add a plugin such as MuseFX PitchFix. Formants are preserved only by the “optimize for voice” option of the clip Pitch and Speed dialog (Audacity 3.5+).
How do I change pitch in Hz or to 432 Hz in Audacity?
In Change Pitch, type the frequencies in Frequency (Hz) “from” and “to”, e.g. 440 → 432. That equals -31.77 cents or −1.818 %.
Can I undo a pitch change in Audacity?
Yes. After the Change Pitch effect, use Edit > Undo (Ctrl + Z, Cmd + Z on a Mac). A clip pitch change stays editable: Ctrl + click (Cmd + click) its indicator to reset it. Still stuck? See our troubleshooting page or the other pitch and key guides.