Is nightcore
legal?

The short answer

Making a nightcore version for yourself, from music you already own, is ordinary personal use — it is what playback tools are for. Publishing a nightcore version of someone else's song is a separate question, because that involves the song's rights, and decisions about such uploads belong to the rights holder.

That is the whole shape of it: the question splits into listening and publishing, and the two have very different answers. The rest of this page walks through both halves in plain words. One thing first, said plainly: nothing on this page is legal advice. We build audio software; we are not lawyers, and copyright rules differ between countries. What follows describes how the situation commonly works, so you can think about it clearly — not what any particular person is permitted to do.

Listening is one thing, publishing is another

The same 135% version sits in two completely different situations depending on where it goes.

Making a version for yourself

Changing how your own music plays back is what players are built to do. Speed controls, tone controls and equalizers have shipped on consumer playback equipment for decades, and setting a song you own to 135% is the same category of act as turning up the bass. The version exists on your device, for your ears. The player on this page fits that situation by design: it runs in your browser, reads your file locally, and exports locally.

Publishing a version of someone else's song

Uploading is where the situation changes, because publishing makes copies and distributes them, and a nightcore edit of a song contains the song. The recording and the composition each carry rights, and those rights do not change because the tempo did. This is not specific to nightcore — it applies the same way to any edit of someone else's music — and it is the reason platforms operate their own detection and rights systems rather than leaving the question to uploaders.

What commonly happens on YouTube

YouTube's Content ID system commonly recognizes the underlying song in a sped up upload, even at changed pitch and tempo. When it does, the rights holder chooses the outcome: they can monetize the upload, track it, or block it. In practice, claims and monetization are the common outcomes for such uploads rather than channel strikes — many rights holders would rather collect the revenue than remove the video. But that is their choice, made per song and per rights holder, and it can change. A claim that stands today is not permission, and none of this page predicts what will happen to any particular upload.

The uncomplicated paths, if publishing is the goal: your own music, music released under a license that allows reuse, or direct permission from whoever holds the rights.

Does changing the speed make it a new song?

No, and this is the misunderstanding behind most trouble. A nightcore version is a changed copy, not a new work: the melody, lyrics, recording and performance are all still there, only faster and higher. Detection systems are built with exactly this in mind, which is why pitch and tempo changes commonly do not prevent a match. The same logic applies to other small alterations people try — a bit of reverb, a trimmed intro. If the original song is audible in the upload, treat the original song's rights as involved, because the systems and the rights holders will.

It is also worth separating the platforms' own music features from re-uploading files. Short-video platforms commonly license large music catalogs for use inside their apps, which is why official sounds and built-in speed effects exist there. That arrangement covers use through the platform's own tools; it is not a general permission to upload your own exported version of a song as a file.

The settings, if you make one for yourself

Since the personal version is the simple case, here is what it takes — the numbers are the easy part.

If you make a version for yourself, 135% is the classic setting — the balance where the voice fully changes character while the words stay clear. The full range runs 125-150%, and the pitch follows the tempo automatically at 12 semitones per doubling of speed.

Make a personal version in a minute

The player at the top of this page is set to the nightcore preset, and everything it does stays on your device.

1. Press play on the demo track to hear the effect before using your own music.
2. Drop in a song you own, from your device.
3. Set the tempo to 135% and play the chorus; adjust between 125% and 150% until the voice sits right.
4. Loop the chorus while you compare settings — differences of 5% are much easier to judge side by side.
5. Export as MP3 or WAV for your own listening. The export is free and covers the whole song; a short spoken note plays after the song ends and can be cropped away.

A note on loudness

A raised version feels louder than the original because more of its energy lands where hearing is most sensitive. Before exporting, glance at the waveform and lower the volume slightly if the peaks run high, so your personal copy stays clean.

You love nightcore? There is a player for that.

The cleanest form of the personal version is a player that simply plays your music that way — no exported copies at all.

Y2K Player is a music player for iPhone and iPad that saves each song's settings, so a song set to 135% plays as nightcore every time without a second file existing anywhere. Your library and playlists stay yours, on the device, offline, with no account. When you do have music you are free to publish — your own work, or licensed material — it exports video at 1080p over visualizers, ready for posting.

Free to use. Pro is one payment — forever.