Generating video with the API

Orshot generates videos from your Studio templates — turn static designs into animated content, add voiceovers, ambient audio, captions and waveforms, or combine pages into video slideshows. Set response.format to mp4, webm, mov, mkv, or gif.

Quick Start#

To generate a video, set the response.format to a video format and include videoOptions for any video-specific settings:

const response = await fetch("https://api.orshot.com/v1/studio/render", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    Authorization: "Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    templateId: "<YOUR_TEMPLATE_ID>",
    modifications: {
      title: "Product Launch 2026",
      subtitle: "Coming this April",
      bgVideo: "https://example.com/product-demo.mp4",
    },
    response: {
      format: "mp4",
      type: "url",
    },
  }),
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.data.content); // Video URL

Supported Formats#

How It Works#

1. Design a template in Orshot Studio with video elements, text, images, and shapes
2. Add audio & subtitles per page — upload audio, generate voiceovers or ambient sound, and add automatic captions or SRT files
3. Call the API with a video format and pass content overrides in modifications
4. Configure video settings using videoOptions for trimming, audio control, subtitles, and optional page-combining transitions
5. Receive your video as a hosted URL — response.type must be "url" for video and GIF output

API Request Structure#

Replacing Video Content#

Replace video elements in your template by passing a new URL:

{
  "modifications": {
    "bgVideo": "https://example.com/new-background.mp4"
  },
  "response": {
    "format": "mp4",
    "type": "url"
  }
}

Multi-Page Video Slideshows#

Multi-page templates can be rendered as a single video, with each page becoming a segment of the final video:

{
  "templateId": "<SLIDESHOW_TEMPLATE>",
  "modifications": {
    "page1@title": "Introduction",
    "page1@bgVideo": "https://example.com/intro.mp4",
    "page2@title": "Features",
    "page2@bgVideo": "https://example.com/features.mp4",
    "page3@title": "Get Started",
    "page3@bgVideo": "https://example.com/cta.mp4"
  },
  "response": {
    "format": "mp4",
    "type": "url"
  },
  "videoOptions": {
    "combinePages": true,
    "pageTransition": "fade",
    "pageTransitionDuration": 0.5
  }
}

Common videoOptions#

• fps - output frame rate
• quality - encoder quality
• trimStart, trimEnd - trim output range in seconds
• muted - mute/unmute output audio (includes page-level audio)
• subtitleSource, subtitleColor, subtitleBackground, subtitleFontSize, subtitleFontFamily, subtitlePosition, subtitleOffset
• combinePages, pageTransition, pageTransitionDuration - combine multi-page videos with optional transitions

Page-Level Audio & Subtitles#

You can add uploaded audio, generated voiceovers, ambient sound and subtitles to each page in Studio. Page audio is mixed into the video automatically. Generated voiceovers can also expose their script as a dynamic parameter for personalized narration. Page subtitles are used when no videoOptions.subtitleSource is provided.

See Video Options for details on how page audio interacts with API-level controls.

Credit Costs#

Video generation costs 1 credit per second of output video, rounded up to the next second. Images cost 1 credit each. Seconds rendered on overage cost 8 credits per second. New AI narration bills AI credits instead, 1 per started 10 seconds of speech (premium voices 2), from the same pool as AI video and AI images.

Check your workspace usage dashboard for current credit usage and limits.

Plan Limits#

• Every plan renders video, the Free plan included (up to 30 seconds per video, one music track). On a custom plan without video, every video format returns a 403 with Video generation is available on supported plans.
• Each plan has a maximum video length: 30 seconds on Free, then 3 minutes up to 10 minutes on Scale plans. A longer video returns an error that names your plan's limit.
• response.scale: 2 for video works only on Scale plans. Other plans render video at 1x and the response carries a warning.
• Video formats are not available on dynamic URLs. Use the render API instead.

Example: Social Media Clip#

const response = await fetch("https://api.orshot.com/v1/studio/render", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    Authorization: "Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    templateId: "<SOCIAL_VIDEO_TEMPLATE>",
    modifications: {
      headline: "5 Tips for Better Productivity",
      author: "Jane Smith",
      bgVideo: "https://example.com/office-bg.mp4",
      "bgVideo.trimStart": 0,
      "bgVideo.trimEnd": 15,
      "bgVideo.muted": true,
    },
    response: {
      format: "mp4",
      type: "url",
    },
    videoOptions: {
      subtitleSource: "https://example.com/voiceover.mp3",
      subtitleColor: "#ffffff",
      subtitleBackground: "rgba(0,0,0,0.6)",
      subtitleFontSize: "28px",
    },
  }),
});

What's Next#