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Time Lapse Video Maker

Create professional-looking time lapse videos for free, even without a high-end camera. Edit entirely online—there's no software to download.

Create time lapse

What is a time lapse video?

A time lapse video is created by taking a sequence of photos or videos over a period of time and then playing them back at a faster speed. This allows a video to display slow changes that usually take a long time in a much shorter period.

In more technical terms, a time lapse is a sequence of images captured at a lower frame rate than the playback rate. When these images are combined and played back in a continuous video, the passage of time appears to be sped up. Hours, days, and even months can be shortened and compressed to just a few seconds (or minutes) of video footage.

Make time lapse videos from photos and videos for any reason

Why would a video producer or content creator consider making a time lapse video? Well, there are several unique advantages to showing footage via a time lapse:

1. Share change or progress: How has a specific location or thing changed over a longer period of time? Time lapse videos are great for answering this question. The bustling movement of a mainstreet, the construction of a new building, the blooming of a flower; all changes too slow to observe in real-time, but that can be seen clearly when compressed to a time lapse video. They provide a compelling visual representation of changes that are usually too slow to observe in real-time.

2. Creative expression: Time lapse videos are a unique visual effect that enhance storytelling and can produce compelling footage in films, documentaries, or commercials.

3. Observe in great detail: Time lapse videos are often used in scientific research to observe and analyze slow-moving processes.. However, they're also generally valuable for making mundane motion feel more dynamic—since long actions are hyper-condensed in a time lapse video, they're a great format for distilling footage for noisy platforms like social media.

Anywhere you need to dramatically shorten footage to show the passage of time, a time lapse video can help. And anytime you need to make one, Kapwing's time lapse video maker has you covered. Get started in just a few clicks.

How to make a time lapse video

Upload video
Upload a video into an online speed changing tool like Kapwing. You can drag and drop the video from any device or you can import a video directly from Google Drive, YouTube, or Vimeo.
Change the video speed
Now, select the speed buttons on the right side of the editor (scroll past the 'Adjust' section) to increase the tempo of your video. You can preview the updated video on the left to see what different speeds look like. To make a time lapse video, apply the 4x speed change to increase the speed as much as possible. The “Trim” button also allows you to shorten the length of your video, if you want to choose a certain section to time lapse.
Download and share
Click on the 'Export Project' button once you're finished creating your time lapse video. Kapwing will automatically begin exporting and downloading your video as an MP4 that you can publish to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or any other social media platform. You're all set!

Create time lapse videos with ease

Speed up your time lapse video with one simple slider

Kapwing's time lapse video maker is integrated into our primary video editor in the form of a speed changing tool that allows you to speed up videos—or apply slow motion. That means the only thing you need to do to create a time lapse video is upload footage that's suitable for a time lapse and then turn the speed dial way up. From there, you can make other changes from right inside of Kapwing to apply polish: trim sections, add music, applyvideo effects, or adjust brightness to ensure your time lapse video looks picture-perfect.

Make time lapse videos for free—upgrade for Pro features

Kapwing's free time lapse video maker lets you get started for no upfront cost; you don't even have to create an account. Get your time lapse video made and try our video editor for no upfront cost. If you want to take your videos further, you can upgrade to Pro to unlock a full creative suite of tools that can automate video production and speed up your content creation process. Auto subtitles, silence removal, background noise removal, and a brand new AI video editor is available for Pro users.

Make any kind of video you want, not just time lapses

Time lapse videos are just one tool in your toolkit. Kapwing is also a best-in-class video editor for a number of other popular types of formats, styles, and video sections. That includes animated videos, explainer videos, music videos, video ads, and even video intros for YouTube. Any video across any use case is made better with Kapwing.

Discover even more features on Kapwing

Add Subtitles

Generate and customizable captions that automatically sync to your video. Use our AI-powered tool to create a transcript of your video, and then customize your auto-synced subtitles to make them perfect for your content creation needs. Resize, swap out fonts, or add in professional animations and transitions - all your edits will instantly be applied to the entire video.

Subtitle Video

Smart Cut

Smart Cut automates your video editing process by detecting and removing silences from your video in a matter of seconds. You'll be saving hours of editing time and completing your rough cut faster than ever for talking head videos, recorded presentations, tutorials, vlogs, and more. Editing has never been so seamless.

Remove Silences

Resizer

Repurpose videos faster and make them look more professional with our Resize Canvas feature! In just a few clicks, you can take a single video and adjust it to be the right size for every other platform, whether it's for TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, or somewhere else.

Resize Video

Background Remover

With Kapwing's smart background removal tool, you can isolate people from the background of a video for free, without a green screen. All it takes is a few clicks. Upload your content, select the Remove Background tool, and use the preview to choose the threshold that best works for you.

Remove Background

Clean Audio

Enhance your project’s audio in seconds with Kapwing. In one click, Clean Audio automatically removes background noise, corrects loudness, and helps reduce popping sounds in your audio and videos. To use it, simply upload a video or audio file, then select Clean Audio on the right side.

Remove Audio Background

Collaborative editing

Work with your team directly in Kapwing. Create and edit content, then send it to share and collaborate with your teammates. Make team workspaces, comment in the editor, and work on videos together in real time or asynchronously.

Start Editing

Trimmer

Edit the length of your video clip by dragging the timeline handles or by using the Split tool. It’s never been easier to cut out silences, rearrange clips, or adjust the length of your audio to fit your video.

Trim Video

Waveforms

Kapwing's customizable waveforms let you bring your audio or podcast content to life. Our Waveform tool creates an automatically-generated, animated graph showing the frequency and amplitude of your audio over time. Choose between a classic waveform style and a stacked “bars” style to bring your own touch to your project.

Add a Waveform

Unlimited Overlays

Make your content pop with image overlays, emojis, progress bars, and audio waveforms. Then simply resize and position them to customize your project. With unlimited overlays, the possibilities are endless.

Add an Overlay

Stock Assets

Browse hundreds of royalty-free images, GIFs, videos, sound effects, and music clips directly in our editor. Curate assets that will bring your project to life, then edit them the way you want to all in one place.

Try Plugins

Templates

Get inspired by hundreds of trendy video templates made to unleash your creativity. Select the template that best suits your project, and then make it your own with custom videos, images, or text. Making professionally designed videos or memes has never been faster.

See All Templates

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I use a time lapse video?

Time lapse videos are a useful way to visualize the passage of time. For example, filming a long creation or production process, or a lengthy transition from one scene to the next.

How should I film a time lapse video?

Time lapse videos should be filmed from a stable perspective, like a tripod or stable perch, to emphasize the movement of the subjects rather than the movement of the camera frame. Although most time lapse cameras require you to speed up your footage as you film it, you can also apply a “hyper speed” effect retroactively with a video editor like Kapwing.

How can I make a time lapse video?

1. Upload a video to Kapwing 2. Go to the 'Speed' feature in the right side of the editor. 3. Toggle the speed to 4x faster. 4. If needed, trim your video. 5. Export and share your video online. You're all set!

How long is a 30 seconds time-lapse?

The amount of raw footage you'd need for a 30-second time lapse video depends on the playback rate of the footage. For a playback of 30 FPS, you'd need 15 minutes of real-time footage (or 900 seconds). 30 frames x 30 seconds = 900 seconds. For a playback of 60 FPS, you'd need 30 minutes of real-time footage (or 1,800 seconds). 60 frames x 30 seconds = 1,800 seconds.

What's different about Kapwing?

Easy

Start creating immediately with thousands of templates and copyright free videos, images, music, and GIFs. Repurpose content from the internet by pasting a link.

Free

Kapwing is completely free to start. Just upload a video and start editing. Supercharge your editing workflow with our powerful online tools.

Accessible

Automatically subtitle and translate videos with our AI-powered Subtitler tool. Caption your videos in seconds, so that no viewers get left behind.

Online

Kapwing is cloud based, which means your videos are wherever you are. Use it on any device and access your content anywhere in the world.

No spam or ads

We don't serve ads: we're committed to building a quality, trustworthy website. And we will never spam you nor sell your information to anyone.

Powerful

Kapwing works hard to help make the content you want, when you want it. Get started on your project today.

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Best online video service ever. And a miracle for deaf people.

[Subtitler] is able to autogenerate subtitles for video in almost any language. I'm deaf (or almost deaf, to be correct) and thanks to Kapwing I'm now able understand and react on videos from my friends :)

Michael Trader

Information Services Freelancer

This tool should be in every social media account managers' bookmark list.

I use this daily to help with video editing. Even if you're a pro video editor, their is no need to be spending hours trying to get the format correct. Kapwing does the hard work for you.

Dina Segovia

Virtual Freelance Worker

It just works!

Kapwing is incredibly intuitive. Many of our marketers were able to get on the platform and use it right away with little to no instruction. No need for downloads or installations - it just works.

Eunice Park

Studio Production Manager at Formlabs

With Kapwing, we're always ready to create.

Kapwing is an essential tool that we use in MOXIE Nashville every day. As a social media agency owner, there's a variety of video needs that my clients have. From adding subtitles to resizing videos for various platforms, Kapwing makes it possible for us to create incredible content that consistently exceeds client expectations. With Kapwing, we're always ready to create - from anywhere!

Vannesia Darby

CEO at MOXIE Nashville

Spend less time learning... and more time crafting stories.

Kapwing helps you spend less time learning complex video editing platforms and more time crafting stories that will connect with your audience and customers. We've used the platform to help create engaging social media clips from our clients' podcasts and we can't wait to see how the platform simplifies this process going forward. If you've learned graphic design with Canva, you can learn video editing with Kapwing.

Grant Taleck

Co-Founder at AuthentIQMarketing.com

It keeps getting better!

Kapwing is probably the most important tool for me and my team. It’s always there to meet our everyday needs in creating scroll-stopping and engaging videos for us and our clients. Kapwing is smart, fast, easy to use and full of features that are exactly what we need to make our workflow faster and more effective. We love it more each day and it keeps getting better.

Panos Papagapiou

Managing Partner at EPATHLON

By the far the most user friendly software to use.

As a housewife at home looking to start a Youtube channel for fun with absolutely zero editing experience, it was so easy for me to teach myself via their YouTube channel. It takes the tediousness out of editing and encourages creativity. As long as Kapwing is around, I will be using their software.

Kerry-lee Farla

Youtuber

Kapwing is my secret weapon!

This is one of the most powerful, yet inexpensive and easy-to-use video editing software I've found. I blow my team away with how fast and efficiently I can edit and turnaround video projects.

Gracie Peng

Director of Content

Kapwing is king.

When I use this software, I feel all sorts of creative juices flowing because of how jam-packed with features the software really is. A very well-made product that will keep you enticed for hours.

Martin James

Video Editor

Love this site.

As a English Foreign Language Teacher, this site helps me to quickly subtitle interesting videos that I can use in class. The students love the videos, and the subtitles really help them to learn new vocabulary as well as better understand and follow the video.

Heidi Rae

Education

Excellent subtitling features

[It] works perfectly for me. Have been using Kapwing for a year or so, and their automatic subtitle tool gets better and better every week, it's rare that I have to correct a word. Keep up the good work!

Natasha Ball

Consultant