How to change the pitch of an audio file without changing speed
Shift a song or recording up or down in pitch — by semitones or cents — free and in your browser, with the tempo left untouched.
Changing pitch used to mean changing speed with it — slow a record down and it drops in pitch, speed it up and it rises. Modern pitch shifting separates the two, so you can move a track up or down without it sounding faster, slower, or chipmunky.
Shift the pitch of an MP3 in your browser
Load the file
Drop an MP3, WAV, M4A or other audio file into the Pitch Audio tool.
Set the shift
Move the control up or down in semitones. One semitone is one piano key; twelve semitones is a full octave.
Preview, then export
Listen back before committing, then export the shifted file.
How many semitones do I need?
- Transposing a backing track to suit a singer: usually 1–3 semitones either way.
- Moving between related keys, e.g. C to D: 2 semitones up.
- Dropping a track an octave: 12 semitones down.
- Disguising a voice: 4–6 semitones is enough to be unrecognisable while staying intelligible.
Pitch vs speed — which do I actually want?
Use pitch shifting when the timing must stay put: transposing a karaoke or practice track, matching two songs for a mashup, or tuning a recording that came out slightly flat. Use Speed Audio when you want the tempo to change — speeding up a podcast, or slowing a passage down to learn it. Speed changes alone will drag the pitch with them, which is exactly what you want when you're emulating a tape or vinyl effect.
Why heavy shifts sound artificial
Pitch shifting works by stretching and resampling the waveform, and the further you push it the more the algorithm has to invent. Small moves of one to three semitones are usually transparent. Past about six semitones you'll start to hear a metallic or watery quality, especially on vocals and cymbals. If you need a big shift, it's often cleaner to re-record or re-render the source at the target pitch.
Changing the pitch of a video's audio
Video files can't be pitch-shifted directly, but the round trip is quick: pull the sound out with Extract Audio, shift it, then put it back with Add Music to Video using Replace mode. That's how you deepen or raise a voice in a clip without touching the picture.