Audacity is an incredibly versatile, useful, and accessible sound-editing software, loved by millions of amateurs and professionals around the globe, not least because it is free-to-use.
Learning how to zoom in and out on your projects, or even on the smallest samples of larger pieces, can radically alter how you use Audacity (for the better).
To learn how to zoom in and out (in lots of different ways) in Audacity, simply follow our step-by-step guides below. For any additional information or queries, see our FAQs at the bottom of the article.
Table of Contents
How to zoom in and out in Audacity using keyboard shortcuts
- First, open up the Audacity application on your PC, and when open, either load a previous project or record some random noise – just to give yourself something to practice zooming in and out on.
- To simply zoom in on a project, hit CTRL + 1 on your keyboard. Each tap will zoom you in one more increment – you can zoom in ridiculously far like this, until you reach the maximum magnification
- To simply zoom out from a project, hit CTRL + 3 on your keyboard. Each tap will zoom you out one more increment, until you reach the minimum magnification
- To fit your entire project to the width of the editing window, hit CTRL + F on your keyboard
- To fit a selected portion of your project to the width of the editing window, first double-click or click and drag to highlight a particular selection, and then hit CTRL + E on your keyboard to fit this selection to the window
- To toggle the zoom level between ‘Zoomed In’ and ‘Zoomed Normal’, hit CTRL + Z on your keyboard – each tap of this combination will toggle zoom accordingly
- To reset the zoom level to normal, hit CTRL + 2 on your keyboard at any time.
How to zoom in and out in Audacity using the zoom tool icons
- First, open up the Audacity application on your PC, and when open, either load a previous project, or record some random noise – just to give yourself something to practice zooming in and out on.
- You’ll find a row of magnification tools (each a play on the plain magnifying glass icon) toward the top-right of the Audacity screen.
- To simply zoom in on a project, click the magnifying glass with a (+) sign inside it. Each click will zoom you in one increment – you can zoom in ridiculously far like this, until you reach the maximum magnification
- To zoom out from a project, click the magnifying glass with a (-) sign inside it. Each click will zoom you out one more increment, until you reach the minimum magnification
- To fit your entire project to the width of the editing window, click the magnifying glass with the wider of the two blue-arrowed timelines beneath it.
- To fit a selected portion of your project to the width of the editing window, first double-click or click and drag to highlight a particular selection, and then click the magnifying glass with the narrower of the two blue-arrowed timelines beneath it, to fit this selection to the window
- To toggle the zoom level between ‘Zoomed In’ and ‘Zoomed Normal’, click the two magnifying glasses overlapping icon – each click will toggle zoom accordingly
- First, open up the Audacity application on your PC, and when open, either load a previous project or record some random noise – just to give yourself something to practice zooming in and out on.
- Via the ‘View’ menu in the toolbar up top, you’ll find a slew of zoom and track size options to help you alter zoom levels in just a few clicks.
- To simply zoom in on a project, click View > Zoom > Zoom In, and repeat as necessary
- To simply zoom out from a project, click View > Zoom > Zoom Out, and repeat as necessary
- To fit your entire project to the width of the editing window, click View > Track Size > Fit to Width
- To fit a selected portion of your project to the width of the editing window, first double-click or click and drag to highlight a particular selection, and then click View > Zoom > Zoom to Selection
- To toggle the zoom level between ‘Zoomed In’ and ‘Zoomed Normal’, click View > Zoom > Zoom Toggle
- To reset the zoom level to normal, click View > Zoom > Zoom Normal at any time
Note: When zooming in and out, you can center the zooming process on a particular point in your track by first clicking on the track at your desired point (so long as you’re in ‘Selection Tool’ mode – the cursor-looking icon up top/press F1 to enter this mode.)
And there you have it! Simply by following our step-by-step instructions, you can master the zoom function in Audacity and become a sound-editing guru. For any additional information or unanswered queries, please see our FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
Why would I want to zoom in and out in Audacity?
Learning the various ways one can zoom in and out in Audacity can make your life, as a sound engineer, music producer, or podcast editor, so much easier. There are lots and lots of ways you can zoom in and out in Audacity, and each has its own merits.
Being zoomed really close in can help you pinpoint exact sounds, enabling you to edit them in minute detail, or to identify specific frequencies which you might want to target for reduction or amplification. On the other hand, zooming far out from your project can help you to see the bigger picture, to navigate to specific points on it quicker and with greater ease, and to more readily spot any obvious anomalies to the music or sound.
There are also options to zoom in or out on a specific selection, which is a great means of quickly viewing only that aspect of the project which needs immediate attention.
How far can I zoom in and out in Audacity?
Pretty far! The zoom tools built into Audacity allow you to zoom in on a recording or project file up to 5/100000ths of a second. At such a level, you’ll hardly even be able to tell you’re looking at soundwaves, and shall instead see the individual points of the sound at a minute scale.
Alternatively, you can zoom out until your window displays up to 336 hours of sound – a goalpost you’ll almost certainly never reach, but which can – for those super long projects (like audiobooks or podcasts) – help you to more easily navigate your project, or to edit it from an entirely different angle.
If I alter the Audacity zoom level, does this become the new zoom default?
No. When you alter the zoom level in Audacity, it will only remain at that level until you next adjust it, or until you close the program/project.
However, if you save the project you’re working on, whilst viewing the project from a zoom level other than the Audacity default, whenever you load this project, you’ll find that your alterations to the zoom level are retained. As such, technically you can set default zoom levels, but only per project, and you must remember to save the project at said zoom level.
How do I reset the zoom level in Audacity?
Because there’s no 100% zoom marker to make for, to reset the zoom level of your project to default, you’ll just have to use some keyboard shortcuts or zoom tools to achieve default.
To do so with keyboard shortcuts, press CTRL + 2 together on your keyboard to set the zoom to ‘normal’. Alternatively, hit SHIFT + Z – this shortcut switches you between two zoom levels, zoomed in and zoomed normal; as such, you may have to use it twice to achieve ‘normal’ zoom.
To reset the zoom level in Audacity using your mouse or trackpad, click ‘View’ from the toolbar up top, then ‘Zoom’, then ‘Zoom Normal’.
Alternatively, you can fit your project to the width of your Audacity window, which can act as a sort of default zoom level. To do so, either press CTRL + F on your keyboard or click View > Track Size > Fit To Width
