This application discloses a pulse shaping method, a transmitter, a receiver, and a system. The transmitter includes an inverse Fourier transform module, a pulse shaping filter, a pulse shaping controller, and a parallel-to-serial conversion module. The pulse shaping controller is configured to: receive pulse configuration signaling, generate, based on the pulse configuration signaling, a pulse parameter corresponding to a to-be-configured pulse, and output the pulse parameter to the pulse shaping filter. The pulse shaping filter is configured to: perform subcarrier-level filtering on an output signal of the inverse Fourier transform module, perform pulse shaping processing on the output signal of the inverse Fourier transform module based on the pulse parameter, and output a processed signal in serial by using the P/S module. Different pulse parameters correspondingly represent different pulse shapes. In the foregoing solution, pulse shaping can be flexibly configured, to support different communication scenarios.