How to Change the Playback Speed in Windows Media Player

by
Mark Harris
Writer
Mark Harris is a former writer for Lifewire who wrote about the digital music scene and streaming music services in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner.
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Mark Harris
Updated on December 15, 2020
reviewed by
Kayla Dube headshot
Kayla Dube
Lifewire Technology Review Board Member
Kayla Dube has 4+ years' experience in videography and filmmaking. She frequently works in production with indie film companies.
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Article reviewed on Jul 10, 2020
Kayla Dube

What To Know

  • Open a song, and press Ctrl+M. Go to Enhancement > Play Speed, and pick Slow, Normal, or Fast.
  • Reload the track if WMP stops playing following the speed change.

This article explains how to change the playback speed of a song in Windows Media Player. This procedure works for Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10.

How to Change the Windows Media Player Playback Speed

  1. Open a song. Switch the View mode out of Library or Skin by going to View > Now Playing. If the WMP menu bar doesn't showing, use the Ctrl+M keyboard shortcut to enable it. You can even use Ctrl+3 to immediately switch the view to Now Playing without using the menu bar.

  2. Right-click the main area of the screen and choose Enhancements > Play speed settings.

    Play speed settings for Windows Media Player

  3. In the Play speed settings screen that should now be open, select Slow, Normal, or Fast to adjust the speed at which the audio/video should be played. A value of 1 is for normal playback speed while a lower or higher figure either slows down or speeds up the playback, respectively.

    Slow, Normal, Fast speed settings

  4. Re-load the track if WMP stops responding after you change the speed several times. The speed-settings tool occasionally stops if WMP cannot re-configure the track for the requested custom speed in enough time to reload the track before you make another speed change.

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