Control audio playback

Controlling audio playback involves using the Transport toolbar to play, loop, pause, stop, or skip audio.

Play

Playing audio starts playback at the Playback cursor’s position on the Timeline.

To play audio:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Play.

  

  Shortcut

  Press Spacebar .

  Note

  Clicking Play or pressing Spacebar again will replay the beginning of the track or audio selection. To continue playback without jumping back to the beginning, pause and unpause the audio instead.

  Tip

  To play a specific part of a project without pausing, click the part on the Timeline where you want to start playback. To select a specific track to play and mute all other tracks in a project, click the Solo button on the selected track's Track control panel.

Play at a specific playback speed

To play at a specific playback speed:

1. On the Play-at-speed toolbar, drag the Play-at-speed slider:

   

   • To increase the playback speed, drag the slider to the right.

   • To decrease the playback speed, drag the slider to the left.

   Tip

   To adjust the playback speed more precisely, double-click the slider and enter a specific value in the dialog box.

2. Click the Play-at-speed button.

   

   Note

   Adjusting the Play-at-speed slider only changes the project’s playback speed in Audacity. It won’t change any actual waveform data. To change audio speed, use the Change speed or Change tempo effect instead.

Loop

Looping audio automatically repeats playback after the Playback cursor reaches the end of the track or audio selection.

To loop audio:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Loop On/Off.

  

  Shortcut

  Press L .

To stop looping audio:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Loop On/Off again.

Create a loop region

To create a loop region:

• Drag the cursor over the section of the Timeline where you want to loop audio.

  

To delete a loop region:

• Right-click the Timeline and select Clear Loop.

Pause

Pausing audio pauses playback without losing the Playback cursor’s position on the Timeline.

To pause audio:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Pause.

  

  Shortcut

  Press P .

To unpause audio:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Pause again.

Stop

Stopping audio stops playback and moves the Playback cursor’s position to the beginning of the Timeline.

To stop audio:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Stop.

  

Skip to start

Skipping audio to the start moves the Playback cursor’s position to the beginning of the Timeline.

To skip audio to the start:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Skip to start.

  

  Shortcut

  Press Home .

Skip to end

Skipping audio to the end moves the Playback cursor’s position to the end of the Timeline.

To skip audio to the end:

• On the Transport toolbar, click Skip to end.

  

  Shortcut

  Press End .