Play Video in Slow Motion – Best Players

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Mar 15, 2024
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Slow motion video playback can produce interesting results. It can reveal the movie details you’ve missed, or give you an alternative perspective on mundane things. Many players across desktop and mobile platforms have a playback speed feature, so it may be hard to choose. We’ve found the best video players in this category – and you only need to check out this list.

User situation:

I was wondering if anyone knew what the best way is to play a video in slow motion. I have a bunch of harmonica lessen clips that I want to view slowly so I can see the notes I should be playing
— Ubuntu Forums

Slow Motion Players for macOS

Elmedia Player

This Mac video player allows you to playback video in slow motion by configuring and reducing its speed. That applies to almost any video you can find, due to its large variety of available codecs. Better yet, the slowed video can be configured using a video tuner, adding visual effects such as rotation or color correction. Elmedia Player can stream to Smart TVs, and the streamed video will also be slowed down.

To decrease the speed select Playback -> Decrease Speed or press ⌘[ on the keyboard. Click the hotkey or a menu option until the desired slow speed is reached.

Note:  The slow motion option offered by Elmedia doesn’t alter the video speed permanently, however it is quite sufficient for viewing videos and is easy to perform.
video player with slow motion

Top Features:

  • Streaming in a few clicks
  • Audio equalizer, video tuner
  • Playlists and bookmarks
  • Compatibility with any formats
  • Free version availability

Pros

  • Can play video in slow motion
  • Any aspect can be configured
  • The interface is easy to use
  • Helpful manual and tech support

Cons

  • Payment needed to unlock the full feature set
  • Made only for macOS

OS: macOS

Price: free, Elmedia Pro is available for $19.99

QuickTime

Surprisingly, QuickTime offers video play slow capabilities. They are very limited – you can’t just change a setting to play in slow motion; you have to hold K+L or K+J for slow playback. Which is a shame, because QT7 implemented it as a convenient slider. Nonetheless, QuickTime 10 is a possible solution for default macOS users who might not want to install a different player.

Slow Motion settings

Top Features:

  • It’s a built-in system player
  • Plays video files natively
  • Can record your screen
  • Has tons of minor options

Pros

  • Default, safe and stable
  • Always works on the newest macOS

Cons

  • Limited format selection
  • Lacks the customizability of third-party players

OS: macOS

Price: free

Filmora Wondershare

A media app allows you to temporarily watch videos playing in slow motion. But if you want the speed changes to stick, you should use a video editor – for example, Filmora Wondershare. It can reduce the speed of any clip by a lot – all the way down to 0.1x. You’ve got to have a very high frame rate to make use of this kind of slowdown. And once it’s saved, any player will open your video at the same speed.

 

slow video playback

Top Features:

  • Edits video in many different formats
  • Has motion tracking for easy edits
  • Can handle high-resolution videos

Pros

  • You’ll be able to save video in slow motion
  • Other effects available - mix and match

Cons

  • A video editor is slow compared to a video player
  • You can only watch one video at a time

OS: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Price: free, Subscription plan prices start from 49.99 /year

Windows Software to Play Video in Slow Motion

Windows Media Player

This player comes installed by default on every Windows 10 copy. It is a slo mo video player, which can slow videos down up to 16 times; as usual, you need a very high framerate to make full use of this feature. Other useful aspects include its library sync feature, and support for Microsoft proprietary formats.

media player slow motion

Top Features:

  • Windows cloud synchronization
  • Supports many formats, including Windows exclusives
  • Powerful library with flexible search

Pros

  • Installed by default
  • Perfectly integrated with Microsoft services

Cons

  • The library gets in the way if you don’t like it
  • Takes a while to load

OS: Windows, macOS

Price: no cost

Slow Motion Video

Slow Motion Video (also known as SloMo Video) is a Microsoft Store app that does just that – and nothing more. Playback video in slow motion or edit it to be slow, and that’s about it. No playlists, no subtitles, etc. There’s an advantage to this simplicity: you don’t need to figure out the interface. And, since this is a Microsoft Store app, it can also run on XBox One.

Slo Mo video player

Top Features:

  • It’s a slow motion player
  • Can modify video speed and save it

Pros

  • Simple
  • Available on Microsoft Store

Cons

  • Too simple
  • Not enough features for everyday use

OS: Windows

Price: free

VLC

Far from being a Windows exclusive, VLC is available on a whole range of systems, including macOS and Android. And it’s certainly a convenient option for a slow video player. In VLC, you can open a playback speed slider which allows you to set or reset it. You can go up to 4 times faster or slower.

Slow Motion videos on Windows

Top Features:

  • Playback settings
  • Large variety of settings in general
  • All-encompassing compatibility
  • Can convert and stream

Pros

  • Will open any file and play it in slo-mo
  • Many other aspects to customize

Cons

  • Streaming and conversion are hard to use
  • Too many settings to find them easily

OS: Windows, macOS, Android Linux, iOS

Price: free

PlayBack Video in Slow Motion on iOS

Slow Motion'

It’s a quick, compact video editor – just as you’d expect from a mobile app designed to make video play slowly. Slow Motion’ can apply multiple effects to the same track – for example, slow one part, and speed up another. It’s not as quick as a player, and doesn’t have as many playback options, but it does the job.

Slow motion video player on iOS

Top Features:

  • Saves slowed video
  • Can apply multiple effects at the same time

Pros

  • Extremely simple UI
  • Edited videos are permanently slowed

Cons

  • Not as good at playing video
  • Tedious to slow down video without modifying it

OS: iOS

Price: free, in-app purchases

SloPro

This app can bring your footage down to incredibly low speeds, 0.001x at most. While an iPhone camera can’t produce such high framerates, it uses optical flow technology instead to draw the missing frames. It’s probably the most slow video playback that can be achieved.

slow motion player

Top Features:

  • Extremely high video slowdown
  • Can save slow-mo videos to be played in other apps

Pros

  • Highest degree of slow-motion available for normal footage
  • Very easy to use

Cons

  • Predicted frames aren’t authentic
  • Not good for playing videos normally

OS: iOS, Android

Price: free, upgrade to Pro services for $3.99

Slow Video Players on Android

Slow Motion Frame Video Player

A simple video player with slow motion. The app quickly opens any video and allows you to adjust its current framerate. No editing features, or anything else – you can just open and view. The speed can become quite slow, and it’s free to use, too.

Slow Motion video on Android

Top Features:

  • A simplistic player with slow motion

Pros

  • The interface is very simple
  • Free to use

Cons

  • Limited even when compared to other players
  • Doesn’t loop video

OS: Android

Price: free

Slow motion video FX

Slow Motion Video FX not only allows you to slow down video but also to record and convert existing videos to slow motion. It is very convenient and easy to use, so even beginners won’t have a hard time learning the app.

Slow motion video FX

Top Features:

  • Built-in player
  • Advanced workflow allows to choose points on the timeline for both stopping and starting
  • Video filters

Pros

  • Wide range of creative tools
  • Simple graphical interface
  • Quick and responsive

Cons

  • There are very limited speed change options

OS: Android, iOS

Price: free