AI Photo Animate
Upload a photo and a short video. The photo takes on the movement and the camera of the clip.
Upload a photo and a reference video
Your photo
Motion reference
Tap to choose a file
BeforeCopying motion instead of inventing it
Asking a model to invent movement gives you movement that is plausible but not specific. If you had something particular in mind, a walk, a dance, a turn of the head, describing it in words is a poor way to ask for it.
Supplying the movement solves that. The reference clip carries the timing and the camera; your photo supplies who is in it. If you have no reference and want the model to decide, the image to video generator is the right tool.
How to animate a photo from a video
Upload your photo
Front-facing, subject fully in frame, face sharp.
Upload a reference video
A short clip whose movement you want the photo to copy.
Say what should carry over
Usually the motion and the camera. Naming it keeps the rest steady.
Generate and download
Every frame is produced, so this takes longer than a still image.
Matching the photo to the clip
The closer the starting pose is to the first frame of the reference, the less the model has to invent, and inventing is where results go wrong. A standing photo with a standing reference is the easy case; a seated photo with a full body dance is the hard one.
Framing matters as much as pose. If the reference moves arms and legs, give the model a photo that contains arms and legs. A tight head crop cannot grow a body just because the reference has one.
Keep the clip short. Every extra second is more frames to produce and more opportunity for the result to drift away from the person in your photo.
Using this responsibly
Use your own photo and your own footage, or material you have permission to use. That covers nearly every good use of this.
What it does not cover is making a real, identifiable person appear to do something they did not. Our AI restricted policy sets out what is not allowed here.
Frequently asked questions
Image to video invents the movement. Photo animate copies movement that already exists in a video you upload, so the result follows the timing, the pose changes and the camera of that reference clip instead of guessing at them.
One person, clearly framed, with movement that stays inside the frame. Short clips work better than long ones, and steady footage beats handheld, because motion blur gives the model less to follow.
A front-facing photo with the whole subject visible and the face sharp. If the reference clip moves the arms or the whole body, a head-only photo has nothing for that motion to attach to.
Only if you have the right to use it. A reference clip is still someone’s work, and the people in it did not agree to be a template. Your own footage is the safe answer.
Video has its own daily free allowance, separate from image editing and generating, so using one does not spend the other. An Unlimited plan removes the daily limit.