Adjust clip speed, duration, or looping

Loop background music, freeze a video frame, speed up or slow down a clip, or set a custom duration in your composition.

This article covers:

Adjust clip speed

Clip speed controls how fast or slow a clip plays in your timeline. Note: Changing clip speed is different from adjusting your composition’s playback speed—clip speed affects your final export.

When you change the clip speed, Descript automatically updates the duration: speeding up a clip shortens it, while slowing it down makes it longer.

To change clip speed:

  1. Select the clip you want to adjust.
  2. In the Duration section of the Properties panel, drag the speed control or type in a new value.

Clip Speed Canvas

Change clip duration

Clip duration is the total length of a clip on the timeline. Duration can change when you:

To set a specific duration:

Enter a target length in the Properties panel. The right edge of the clip will trim automatically to match.

Loop or freeze a clip

Looping repeats a video or audio clip automatically to fill space in your scene. Freezing holds the final frame of a clip. These options are only available for layers that are not part of the script.

  • In audio-only compositions, looped layers extend to the end of the composition.
  • In video compositions, looped layers usually end at the end of the scene unless extended manually.

To loop or freeze a clip:

  1. Select a video or audio layer (not the script track).
  2. Open the Properties panel from the right-hand sidebar.
  3. Under Duration, choose one of the following:
    • Once – Play the clip one time
    • Loop – Repeat the clip continuously
    • Freeze – Hold the final frame of the clip

Adjust Clip Loop

Layer transitions and looped media

You can't apply transitions to individual layers with looping enabled. If you need a transition, apply it at the scene level instead.

Constrain a looped clip to a scene

You can limit how far a looped clip extends by attaching it to the scene.

  1. Select the layer.
  2. Drag the left edge of the layer toward the scene’s left edge until a red dotted line appears, then release to attach it.

For more, see Attaching layers to scenes.

How scenes affect loop duration

  • Most looped layers stop at the end of a scene—unless attached or extended manually.
  • Some media types, like music from our stock libraries, can loop across an entire composition.
  • In audio-only compositions, looped layers extend to the end of the composition, since there are no scenes.