Change the key of any song in semitones without changing tempo. Transpose a song into a singable range, tune a guitar part down to learn it, or shift a sample to fit your project. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing uploaded.
No file handy?
Drop a song here
or click to browse — pitch-shifted in your browser, never uploaded
MP3WAVOGGFLACAACM4A
Your audio is never uploaded. Decoding, pitch shifting, and encoding all happen in your browser — nothing is sent to a server. Privacy policy.
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+0
No shift
Frequency ratio: 1.000×
Quick jump:
Uncheck for the classic "tape speed" effect (pitch + speed together).
Plays the pitch-shifted result. Each preview builds the buffer fresh.
WAV/FLAC preserve the pitch-shifted result exactly.
Change the key of a song online — free, private, no sign-up
SnipSound's Pitch Shifter changes the pitch (musical key) of any audio file in semitones — without speeding it up or slowing it down. Drop in a song, drag the slider to your target shift, preview the result, and download. Works on MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC, and M4A. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
What each semitone shift does
−12
One octave down. The classic "tape slowed to half-speed" pitch — but tempo stays the same.
−7
Down a perfect 5th. C major → F major. Big drop, useful for low-voice covers.
−5
Down a perfect 4th. C major → G major. Common karaoke transpose for male voices.
−2
Down a whole step (major 2nd). The smallest shift that's "obvious" as a key change.
−1
Down one semitone. Subtle — great for fitting a melody under a vocal range without sounding "wrong".
0
No shift. Original pitch.
+1
Up one semitone. Adds energy, makes vocals sit slightly higher.
+2
Up a whole step. Common "second verse modulation" interval.
+5
Up a perfect 4th. C major → F major. The "make it more anthemic" interval.
+7
Up a perfect 5th. Big lift — classic last-chorus key change.
+12
One octave up. Chipmunk territory if you shift further. Tempo unchanged.
Common use cases
🎤 Karaoke / cover-band transpose
Shift a backing track ±2 to ±5 semitones so the lead vocal sits in a comfortable range without slowing the groove.
🎸 Guitar / piano learning
Drop a song down a few semitones so the chord shapes match the open position you're learning. Don't have a capo? Pitch-shift +2 to fake one.
🎵 DJ key matching
Shift a track ±1 semitone to harmonically mix it with the next one (Camelot wheel logic). Pair with our Key Finder to identify the source key first.
🎬 Sample sound design
Shift a sound effect down for menace, up for energy — useful for podcast intros, video stingers, game audio.
🎓 Music education
Teachers transposing exercises so students can practice in different keys without buying multiple recordings.
🎙 Voice anonymization
Shift speech +6 or -6 semitones to disguise a voice for an interview clip or whistleblower podcast.
How the pitch shifter works
The standard "naive" pitch shifter (the one Windows Media Player and lots of free tools use) just plays the audio at a different sample rate — which raises pitch AND speeds up the audio. That's not what you want. Real pitch shifting splits the audio into short overlapping windows, resamples each window to raise/lower its pitch, then stitches the windows back together with crossfades to maintain the original duration. This is called OLA (overlap-add) granular pitch shifting.
Our implementation runs entirely in JavaScript via the Web Audio API. For each shift, we render the result through an OfflineAudioContext using a granular algorithm with 50 ms windows and 50% overlap. The result is musically usable for shifts within ±6 semitones; beyond that, artifacts ("rubbery", "underwater", or "chipmunk" depending on direction) become audible. For commercial-grade quality on extreme shifts, you'd need a phase vocoder like Logic's Flex Pitch or Pro Tools' Elastic Audio — those use proprietary algorithms tuned for music.
Pitch shifting vs key changing — same thing or different?
Same thing, different vocabulary. "Pitch shifting by +2 semitones" and "transposing from C major to D major" describe the same operation. We use "semitones" in the UI because it's unambiguous — you don't need to know what key the song is in to shift it. If you want to know the source key first, run the file through our Key Finder tool.
Why use SnipSound's pitch shifter
100% in your browser. Most online pitch shifters (mp3cut, vocalremover, audiotrimmer-pitch) upload your file to a server. We don't — your audio never leaves your device.
Tempo preservation is the default. Some tools default to "tape speed" mode where pitch and tempo move together. We default to musically-useful pitch-only shifting.
Honest about limits. Granular pitch shift is OK for ±6 semitones; we tell you that in the FAQ instead of pretending it's commercial-grade for any shift size.
Tempo-coupled mode available too. Toggle Preserve Tempo off if you actually WANT the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" effect (or its slow-mo inverse).
Real intervals, not just numbers. The readout shows the musical interval name (perfect 5th, major 3rd, etc.) alongside the raw semitone count.
Drop your audio file in, drag the semitone slider to your target key (e.g. +2 semitones to go from C major to D major), preview the result, and click Apply & Download. The tempo stays the same — only the pitch changes.
What's a semitone?▼
A semitone (also called a half step) is the smallest interval in Western music — the distance between two adjacent piano keys (white-to-black or B-to-C / E-to-F). 12 semitones make an octave. To transpose from C major to G major, shift by +7 semitones (a perfect fifth up). To match a singer's range, +2 to +5 semitones is typical.
Does this change the tempo too?▼
No — pitch and tempo are independent. With the default "Preserve tempo" option enabled, the audio plays at exactly the same speed; only the pitch shifts. If you want both pitch AND speed changed together (the classic "tape speed" effect), turn off Preserve tempo.
Will it sound natural?▼
For small shifts (±3 semitones), the result is musically usable. Larger shifts introduce audible artifacts — the classic "chipmunk" on big upshifts, "underwater" on big downshifts. For best quality, stay within ±5 semitones and prefer downshifts (they're more forgiving). The algorithm is OLA-based granular pitch shift, which is a step above naive resample but not as clean as commercial phase vocoders (Logic, Pro Tools, Melodyne) — those use proprietary algorithms tuned for music.
Can I transpose a song to a singable key without it sounding slow?▼
Yes — that's exactly what this tool is for. Drop in the original, find the right amount of shift (usually +2 to +5 for songs originally too low, or -2 to -5 for songs too high), and download. Tempo is preserved, so the karaoke / cover-band feel stays intact.
Is my audio uploaded to a server?▼
No. All decoding, pitch processing, and re-encoding happens in your browser. Your audio never leaves your device.
What input formats are supported?▼
Any audio format your browser can decode — MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, M4A. Output formats include MP3 (320, 256, 192, 128 kbps), WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC and M4A.
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