How to Change the Playback Speed in Windows Media Player

by Mark Harris
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.
Updated December 11, 2019

Changing the Windows Media Player playback speed can slow down or speed up music and other sounds, without changing the pitch of the original track.

Windows Media Player can change the playback speed visually, too, which can be useful for following educational videos, for example, when slow motion can help you better understand a concept.

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.