Skip to main content

Slow-mo-ify your videos with new YouTube Editor effect

slomo youtube
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Everything really is a lot cooler in slow motion – and to help, YouTube added the slow motion effect to its editor tools so you can slow down your videos. 

Not everyone can afford the expensive high speed cams that most amateur videographers can only wish to get their hands on. You might have been inspired by TV shows like Discovery’s Time Warp or even the now YouTube-famous theslowmoguys that have caught just about everything in slow-mo for their fans on YouTube.

Fortunately that’s not an issue anymore. The “Slomo” tool is completely free to use. Just upload a video and apply “slomo” from the Enhancements tool section inside of the editor.

Here’s a refresher on how to find that section if this is your first time or haven’t been on in a while (via YouTube).

  1. Click the arrow next to the Upload button at the top of any YouTube page
  2. Select Video Manager
  3. Click the Edit button for the video you want to edit
  4. Click Enhancements

The effect, even if your shot wasn’t on camera, is similar to a high-speed camera. And you don’t even need fancy video editing software.

To get a sense of what this might look like, you can check out this video before the Slomo tool:

And after using Slomo with YouTube  at 1/8th speed:

Editors' Recommendations

Francis Bea
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Francis got his first taste of the tech industry in a failed attempt at a startup during his time as a student at the…
YouTube brings pinch to zoom and video navigation changes to everyone
The red and white YouTube logo on a phone screen. The phone is on a white background.

YouTube is updating its user interface with a slew of changes, and chief among them are the pinch-to-zoom feature and "precise" video navigation.

On Monday, YouTube announced quite a few updates to its viewing experience on mobile and web. Notably, the video-sharing platform said that it was finally "launching pinch to zoom and precise seeking to all users starting today."

Read more
10 longest videos on YouTube
YouTube logo on top-left corner of home screen

YouTube is a platform where you can watch millions of videos from around the world. Whether these videos are podcasts, reviews, or even reactions, YouTube has something for everyone. However, some content creators take it a step further and make their videos extra long. If you're looking for videos that last for over several hours, then you're in luck, because we've assembled ten of the longest videos currently on YouTube. Note that these may not be the absolute longest videos on YouTube, but we tried to limit the scope to entrees that have entertainment value. Somehow we suspect a clock countdown for 70 hours one second at a time wouldn't be very enjoyable.
10. The longest 5 seconds on YouTube.

If you ever wanted to see a five-second-long excerpt stretched out into a 19-hour thrill ride, check out this video from The Slow Mo Guys. As their chosen name suggests, these two men like to film in slow motion some crazy activities such as jumping on a water balloon, getting hit in the face with a soccer ball, and shooting a newton's cradle. "The longest 5 seconds on YouTube," which was released in 2016, stretches out a clip from their "Glass Explosion at 343,000 fps!" where they heat up a glass measuring cup and make its handle explode with only a squirt of water. Even though the build-up to this explosion is quite long, it's worth watching for the shattering effect alone.
9. I Counted To 100,000!

Read more
YouTube to overhaul channel names with @ handles for all
Youtube video on mobile. Credits: YouTube official.

YouTube is launching “handles” to make it easier for viewers to find and engage with creators on the video-sharing platform.

The change means that soon, every channel will have a unique handle denoted by an "@" mark, "making it easier for fans to discover content and interact with creators they love," the Google-owned company said in a post announcing the change.

Read more