---
title: "How to add a timelapse with Claude (tested prompt and ffmpeg command)"
description: "The camera's slow six-second orbit around the bottle races by in two, sweeping three times faster from the first frame to the last while the sound speeds up with it. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the ffmpeg command we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/timelapse
---

# How to add a timelapse with Claude

The camera's slow six-second orbit around the bottle races by in two, sweeping three times faster from the first frame to the last while the sound speeds up with it.

Made by the command on this page, from our own test clip.

## Get this effect

1. ### Switch to Code in your [Claude Desktop App](https://claude.com/download)

2. ### Install the skill (once)

   ```
   Install the Recharm video effects skill: download https://recharm-growth-staging.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/website/downloads/recharm-video-effects.zip and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills
   ```

3. ### Ask for the effect

   ```
   Add a timelapse to input.mp4
   How many times faster than real time: 3
   ```

## Several videos, several effects, one ask

Put your clips in the folder, mention them with @, and ask for everything at once. Claude runs one tested script after another on each clip, then joins them.

Add a timelapse to **@clip1.mp4**, put a sale badge on **@clip2.mp4**, give **@clip3.mp4** a VHS look, then join all three with crossfades.

## Settings you can change

Ask Claude to change any of these, or edit them at the top of the command.

| Setting | Default | What it does                                                                                                    |
| ------- | ------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `SPEED` | `3`     | How many times faster than real time. Keeps every SPEED-th frame, so a 6-second clip becomes 6 / SPEED seconds. |

## Without the skill

Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the command itself.

```
Turn input.mp4 (540x960, 30fps, 6 seconds) into a 3x timelapse: keep every third frame (input frames 0, 3, 6 ... 177) and play them at 30fps, so the output is exactly 2 seconds (60 frames) and output time t shows input time 3 x t (output 0.5s = input 1.5s, 1.0s = 3.0s, 1.8s = 5.4s). Don't blend frames, crop, zoom or add anything to the picture, and don't add any text. Speed the input's own audio up 3x too (ffmpeg atempo=3) so it lasts 2 seconds and stays in step. Use ffmpeg, keep the size, 30fps frame rate and audio, and save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

This is the exact command we tested. Save it as `timelapse.sh` and run:

```
sh timelapse.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/bin/sh
# Timelapse: the whole clip plays 3 times faster, keeping every third frame, so 6 seconds pass in 2.
# Usage: sh timelapse.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
SPEED=3   # how many times faster than real time (keeps every SPEED-th frame; output is length / SPEED)

FPS=$(ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=r_frame_rate -of csv=p=0 "$IN")

ffmpeg -y -v error -i "$IN" -filter_complex "
  [0:v]select='not(mod(n,$SPEED))',setpts=N/($FPS)/TB[v];
  [0:a]atempo=$SPEED[a]" \
  -map "[v]" -map "[a]" -r "$FPS" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac "$OUT"
```

## More motion and camera

- [2.5D parallax photo **2.5D parallax photo**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/2-5d-parallax-photo)
- [Back-and-forth loop **Back-and-forth loop**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/back-and-forth-loop)
- [Background blur **Background blur**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/background-blur)
- [Bullet time **Bullet time**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/bullet-time)
- [Cinemagraph **Cinemagraph**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/cinemagraph)

## Find 3x _winning ads_

Recharm cuts your ad footage into tagged, searchable clips: hooks, testimonials, product shots. Find the shots that win, add the effect with Claude, and ship 3x more ad edits.

[Start 14-day free trial](https://www.recharm.com/get-started)