Voice messages, round videos, music and video all play faster or slower on request, with the pitch corrected so nobody sounds absurd. The range runs from half speed to well past double.
The control is a tap for the common case and a long press for the rest, and where it lives differs by what you are listening to — which is why most people only ever find it on one of them.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Change speed on a voice message, a video, a round video or a track.
- check_circle Get to the in-between speeds, which are the useful ones.
- check_circle Leave something half finished and come back to the same place.
- check_circle Recognise when speeding up is costing you the thing you were listening for.
A tap gives you the usual jump; holding the same control is what opens the range in between.
speed Faster without sounding faster
Playing audio back more quickly by simply running it faster raises the pitch, which is the effect everybody recognises and nobody can listen to. Telegram compresses the time instead of the waveform, so a doubled recording sounds like a person talking quickly rather than like a cartoon.
That is what makes the higher speeds usable rather than a novelty. It also has a limit: somewhere past double, the gaps between words disappear before the words do, and comprehension falls off a cliff even though every syllable is still there.
Which speed for what
Four kinds of thing to listen to, and the speed that stops being useful in each.
mic Somebody's two-minute message
music_note An hour of talk
hearing Below normal speed
play_circle When speed is the wrong tool
Two settings cover almost everything: double for voice messages, a little above normal for anything long.
settings Where the control is
- Voice messages The speed button beside the waveform in the message itself.
- Music and long audio On the player bar, alongside the transport controls.
- Video In the player's own menu when the video is open full screen.
- Round video messages The same control as voice, on the floating bubble.
- For the in-between speeds Hold the control instead of tapping it. The tap cycles through the common values; the hold opens the full range.
This page is the speed control. The curriculum step covers listening as a whole: headphones and the car, hands-free recording and playback, and the settings that make audio messages workable rather than an imposition.
At a glance
- 1Speed control
Each kind of media has its speed button in a different place.
- 2In-between speeds
Press and hold the button for finer steps.
- 3Slow down too
Slower playback helps with fast speech or new languages.
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