Speed up parts of a screen recording and freeze a frame
An install that takes 90 seconds is 90 seconds of nothing for the viewer. Qreata plays that segment at up to 4× and leaves the rest at normal speed. When the picture is the problem and the timing isn’t, it holds a still frame under your voice.
7-day trial · $49 once · no subscription · Apple Silicon · macOS 14+The short answer
In Qreata you speed up part of a Mac screen recording by splitting the timeline around it with “Split” (S) and setting that segment’s speed to 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×, 3× or 4×; the rest stays at 1×, and the segment’s audio speeds up with the picture. “Freeze video” holds the screen picture on the last frame before a selected fragment while audio, duration, camera and captions continue; “Restore video” undoes it. There is no slow motion. Both tools are part of the $49 one-time license.
Use it when
The viewer should see that something happened without sitting through it.
- An install, build, upload or export runs for a minute or more in the middle of a tutorial.
- You type a long value and the viewer only needs the result.
- A pop-up or a stray pointer movement spoils a few seconds while your narration is fine.
- Cutting the wait would make the screen jump from “started” to “done” with no evidence in between.
It won’t help when
You need slower playback, other speed values, or a file from another app.
- You want slow motion. Speeds start at 1× and go up.
- You need a speed that isn’t on the list, or a speed that ramps gradually. There are six fixed steps.
- You talk through the part you want to speed up. The segment’s audio is sped up with the picture.
- The video was recorded elsewhere. Qreata doesn’t import video files.
How to speed up part of a screen recording on Mac
You record an 8-minute setup tutorial. From 2:10 to 3:40 a package installs and you say nothing, and from 5:20 to 5:50 a report exports. Both waits prove the step worked, so they stay in the video, but faster.
- Open the recording in the editor and move the playhead to 2:10, where the install starts.
- Press S, or click “Split”. Move to 3:40, where the install finishes, and split again. The install is now its own 90-second segment.
- Select that segment, open the “Segment” popover on the transport bar under the preview and set “Selected segment speed” to 4×. (The speed menu in the top row only changes preview playback.) It now plays in 22.5 seconds. Its audio is sped up too, which is why a silent stretch is the right one to pick.
- Split at 5:20 and 5:50 and set that 30-second segment to 2×. It plays in 15 seconds.
- Play across each boundary. The picture should change speed at a moment when nothing else is going on, so move a split if it catches the end of a sentence.
- Check the total. 8:00 minus 67.5 seconds minus 15 seconds is about 6:38.
- Export the MP4. Speed is a property of the segment, so you can set it back to 1× in the project later.
Which speed to choose
The six steps are 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×, 3× and 4×. The table shows what a 60-second segment becomes at each and where each tends to fit. A segment can’t be shorter than 0.5 seconds.
| Speed | A 60-second segment plays in | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 1× | 60 seconds | Normal playback |
| 1.25× | 48 seconds | Slow, careful mouse work |
| 1.5× | 40 seconds | Typing a long value or scrolling a long page |
| 2× | 30 seconds | A short wait where the viewer should still read the screen |
| 3× | 20 seconds | A progress bar with visible steps |
| 4× | 15 seconds | A long install, build or upload |
How to freeze a frame in a screen recording
“Freeze video” solves a different problem: the picture is wrong for a few seconds and the timing must not change. Select a fragment and the screen picture holds the last frame before it for the fragment’s whole length. Audio, camera and captions keep going, and the duration stays the same.
Example: at 4:12 of a demo a chat notification slides in over the top right corner and stays until 4:17. You were mid-sentence and didn’t click anything. Select 4:12–4:17, choose “Freeze video” from the “Segment” popover, and the viewer sees the screen as it was just before 4:12 while your sentence continues. At 4:17 the live picture returns.
- Good for: a notification, a tooltip that popped up, a pointer that wandered off while you talked.
- Also good for holding a result on screen while you explain it, when the original take moved on too early in the picture but not in the voice.
- Not good for a fragment where you click or type: the frozen picture skips those actions, and the screen jumps to its new state when the freeze ends.
- “Restore video” brings the original picture back.
Speed up, cut, or freeze: which one fits
All three shorten or repair a dull stretch, with different side effects.
- Speed up when the viewer should see the process happen: an install, a progress bar, a long scroll.
- Cut with “Delete” (⌫) when nothing in the stretch matters and the screen looks the same before and after.
- Use “Remove silences” in the “Trim” tool when the dull stretches are pauses in speech, from 0.8 seconds.
- Freeze when the length is right and only the picture needs to hold still.
- Re-record the range with Replace Take (the Rerecord tool in the editor) when the action itself was wrong.
Limits of speed and freeze frame
Speed is set per segment from six fixed values, 1× to 4×. There is no slow motion, no custom value and no gradual ramp between speeds. Speed applies to the whole segment and to its audio, so speed up stretches where nobody is talking, or split so that the sentence stays outside.
“Freeze video” always holds the last frame before the selected fragment. You can’t pick a different frame, and it doesn’t extend the video: it replaces the screen picture for the fragment’s length, while the camera and captions carry on. To hold a frame longer than the original take lasted, there is no tool; record the pause.
Both work on recordings made in Qreata, which doesn’t import MP4 or MOV files. Export is H.264 MP4 at 30 fps.
Speeding up a recording with the free Mac tools
The built-in recorder (Shift-Command-5) saves a .mov, and Apple’s list of QuickTime Player editing features is trim, split into clips, rearrange, rotate or flip, add a clip, and remove audio or video. Changing the speed of one part and saving it that way is not on the list, and neither is a freeze frame. On the free route both take a second app: a video editor that imports the .mov.
A 10-minute test in the Qreata trial: record 3 minutes that include a wait of 30 seconds or more, split around the wait, set it to 4× and export. The trial runs 7 days with every feature and no account. The license is $49 once for 3 Macs, with no renewal.
Questions worth asking
Can you speed up a screen recording on Mac?
Yes. In Qreata, split the timeline around the part with “Split” (S) and set that segment’s speed to 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×, 3× or 4×. The segment’s audio speeds up too. QuickTime Player’s editing features don’t include a speed change.
Can I speed up only one part of the recording?
Yes. Speed is set per segment. Split before and after the part, change that segment, and everything else stays at 1×.
What is the maximum speed?
4×. The steps are 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×, 3× and 4×, so a 90-second wait can play in 22.5 seconds.
Can I slow down a screen recording?
No. Qreata has no slow motion; segment speed starts at 1×.
How do I freeze a frame in a screen recording?
Select the fragment on the timeline and choose “Freeze video” in the “Segment” popover. The screen picture holds the last frame before the fragment while audio, duration, camera and captions continue; “Restore video” undoes it.
Does changing speed alter the original recording?
No. Speed belongs to the segment in the project and can be set back to 1×. Undo is ⌘Z, with 100 steps.