To change the pitch of a song without changing its speed, the audio has to be time-stretched, not just played faster or slower. Open a file in the tool below, pick the semitones and switch between the record-player way and Keep speed: the length and BPM stay the same. Nothing is uploaded.
Pitch Changer That Keeps the Speed
Change the pitch, keep the speed, and hear the proof: switch between the record-player way and the kept speed at the same moment.
Your audio
Processed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Start here: choose a song or recording from your device.
File:
0 semitones (no change)Pick a shift, then compare below.
Compare: which version do you hear?
Open a file and choose a pitch. Then switch between the versions while it plays.
Download the kept-speed version
Open a file first. The download keeps the original length and tempo.
More options fine tune, voice mode, file format
Voice keeps the vowel colour (formants), so a raised voice does not sound like a chipmunk and a lowered one does not sound muffled.
By default the download matches your file: MP3 for compressed files, WAV for WAV and FLAC. The sample rate is kept.
Related tools
How to change the pitch of a song without changing the speed
- Open the song. Tap Choose a song or audio file or drop it on the tool. MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, FLAC and the sound of a video work.
- Pick the pitch. Use −1 / +1, type a number, or tap a preset from −12 to +12 semitones. The box tells you the interval, for example “up a perfect fourth”.
- Hear the difference. Press Play and switch between Original, Record-player way and Keep speed. The song stays at the same moment; each lane shows its length, BPM and key.
- Download. The download is always the kept-speed version, named like
song_+2st.mp3, with the same length as your file.
More options holds fine tuning in cents, a Voice sound type that keeps the vowel colour of a singer, and the file format (MP3 128 to 320 kbps, or WAV).
Why pitch and speed are linked (varispeed)
A sound’s pitch is the number of vibrations per second. A record player, a tape machine or a sampler without time stretching changes pitch by playing the recording faster or slower, so every vibration arrives sooner or later. This is called varispeed: one control moves pitch and speed together. One semitone is a factor of 21/12 = 1.0595, so +2 semitones means 12.25 % faster, and −12 semitones means half speed. Semitones explained covers the step, and pitch vs tempo the difference between the two words.
| Semitones | Record-player speed | A 3:00 song lasts | 120 BPM becomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| −12 | ×0.5000 (−50.0 %) | 6:00 | 60.0 BPM |
| −5 | ×0.7492 (−25.1 %) | 4:00 | 89.9 BPM |
| −3 | ×0.8409 (−15.9 %) | 3:34 | 100.9 BPM |
| −2 | ×0.8909 (−10.9 %) | 3:22 | 106.9 BPM |
| −1 | ×0.9439 (−5.6 %) | 3:11 | 113.3 BPM |
| +1 | ×1.0595 (+5.9 %) | 2:50 | 127.1 BPM |
| +2 | ×1.1225 (+12.2 %) | 2:40 | 134.7 BPM |
| +3 | ×1.1892 (+18.9 %) | 2:31 | 142.7 BPM |
| +5 | ×1.3348 (+33.5 %) | 2:15 | 160.2 BPM |
| +12 | ×2.0000 (+100.0 %) | 1:30 | 240.0 BPM |
With Keep speed, every row stays 3:00 and 120 BPM. The tool shows both numbers side by side, so you can check it on your own song instead of trusting a claim.
How time stretching keeps the speed
To change pitch without changing speed, the tool does two things at once. It moves the pitch with a resampler, which on its own would also change the length, and it stretches the time back to the original length with a phase vocoder. In plain words: the sound is cut into thousands of short, overlapping slices; each slice is measured as a set of frequencies; the slices are spaced further apart or closer together, and each frequency’s phase is corrected so the slices join without clicks. The result has the new pitch and the old length, sample for sample.
- Music: between about −5 and +5 semitones a full song sounds natural. At ±12 drums soften and reverb gets longer.
- Voice: raising a voice moves its formants too, which gives the “chipmunk” sound. The Voice sound type keeps them in place; the pitch shifter does the opposite on purpose, for effects.
- Key: +2 semitones takes G major to A major. How many semitones to change key lists every pair, and the semitone calculator counts between any two notes.
Change pitch without changing speed in FL Studio, Ableton, Audacity, Logic and Premiere
| Program | Where | What keeps the speed |
|---|---|---|
| Audacity | Select the audio → Effect → Pitch and Tempo → Change Pitch → set semitones → Apply. Full guide: change pitch in Audacity. | Change Pitch keeps the tempo; Change Speed changes both. |
| FL Studio | Open the sample’s Channel settings → Time stretching → set Mode to a stretch mode (not Resample) → turn Pitch. | The stretch mode. In Resample the length changes with the pitch. |
| Ableton Live | Double-click the clip → Clip View → turn Warp on → set Transpose (semitones) and Detune (cents). Complex Pro suits full songs. | Warp. With Warp off, Transpose repitches like a record. |
| Logic Pro | On the track, open an Audio FX slot → Pitch → Pitch Shifter → set Semitones. | The plug-in shifts pitch in real time; the region length does not change. |
| Premiere Pro | Effects → Audio Effects → Time and Frequency → Pitch Shifter on the clip → set Transpose. Full guide: change pitch in Premiere Pro. | The effect; Speed/Duration is for the opposite job. |
| ffmpeg | -af "asetrate=44100*1.122462,aresample=44100,atempo=0.890899" for +2 st (use your file’s sample rate). | atempo = 1 ÷ the pitch factor undoes the speed change. |
| Unity | Send the AudioSource to an Audio Mixer group, add a Pitch Shifter effect and set its Pitch (1.1225 = +2 st). | AudioSource.pitch changes speed too; the mixer effect does not. |
On a Mac or iPhone, see GarageBand and Final Cut Pro; for phone apps, changing pitch on mobile. Without any of these programs, the tool above does the same job in the browser.
Sound quality and limits
- Accuracy: in our tests every kept-speed file was within 0.1 cents of the target pitch and within 0.01 % of the original tempo, with the same length.
- Range: −12 to +12 semitones, plus ±100 cents fine tuning.
- Loudness: the level is lowered only if the changed sound would clip.
- Speed: for a 3-minute song the changed sound starts playing in about 0.8 seconds and the whole file is ready in about 6 seconds on a desktop computer. Phones take longer.
- Files: up to 8 minutes and 200 MB. The download keeps your sample rate.
Which tool should you use?
| Tool | Use it when | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| This page | You want a new pitch and proof that the speed did not change | Kept |
| Pitch and tempo changer | You want it slower or faster, with or without a key change | Changes |
| Online key changer | You think in key names; the key is detected (or use the song key finder) | Kept |
| Karaoke pitch changer | A backing track in your key, ♭/♯ buttons | Kept |
| YouTube pitch changer | The song is on YouTube and you have no file | Kept |
| Video pitch changer | You need the video back, not only the sound | Kept |
Questions about changing pitch without changing speed
Does changing the pitch change the speed?
Only with varispeed. A record player or a plain playback-rate change moves both. With time stretching, as in this tool, the pitch moves and the speed and length stay exactly the same.
Can I change the pitch without changing the tempo online for free?
Yes. Open the song above, pick the semitones and download. It is free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no upload: your browser does the work.
Will the BPM stay the same?
Yes. The tool detects the BPM of your song and measures it again on the result; both lanes show the same number. The record-player lane shows what the BPM would have become.
Does it lower the sound quality?
Small shifts are hard to hear. Up to about ±5 semitones a song sounds natural. Larger shifts soften drums; choose WAV or 320 kbps MP3 to avoid extra loss.
How is this different from a key change?
A key change is a pitch change counted in keys. +2 semitones takes G major to A major. The key change vs pitch change guide explains when each word fits.
Is my audio uploaded?
No. The file is opened and changed on your device. Nothing leaves your browser.
Tested: what we measured
- 8 kept-speed files from −12 to +12 semitones re-measured: pitch within 0.1 cents, tempo within 0.01 %, length unchanged.
- 7 record-player versions measured too: pitch and speed both changed by exactly 2semitones/12.
- A 120 BPM song in G major raised 2 semitones was analysed again: 120 BPM, A major, same length.
- The preview you hear equals the downloaded file sample for sample; MP3 was decoded again and measured.
Last updated 28 September 2026 by Mayer. More tools on the online pitch changer home page; how we test: how it works.