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

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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.

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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

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Change clip duration

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

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To set a specific duration:

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

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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.

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

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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.