Veo 3 video generation

Google's Veo 3 video generation model, available in two releases (3.0 and 3.1) with three speed/cost tiers. The operation (text-to-video, image-to-video, first-last-frame, reference) is inferred from the number of images passed.

version	mode	Notes
3.1	standard	Best quality. Default.
3.1	fast	~40% cheaper, significantly faster.
3.1	lite	~70% cheaper, fastest. Supports only text-to-video and single image-to-video.
3.0	standard / fast	Previous release. Same operations as 3.1 standard/fast; lite is 3.1-only.

Default choice: version: "3.1", mode: "standard" for maximum quality. Use mode: "fast" for iterating; mode: "lite" for rapid prototyping or high-volume tasks.

All Veo 3 jobs exceed the 100-second request timeout — always submit with wait=0.

Text-to-video

POST https://orchestration.civitai.com/v2/consumer/workflows?wait=0
Authorization: Bearer <your-token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "steps": [{
    "$type": "videoGen",
    "input": {
      "engine": "veo3",
      "version": "3.1",
      "prompt": "A lighthouse standing on rocky cliffs at sunset, waves crashing below, cinematic",
      "aspectRatio": "16:9",
      "duration": 8,
      "generateAudio": true
    }
  }]
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "videoGen", "input": { "engine": "veo3", "version": "3.1", "prompt": "A lighthouse standing on rocky cliffs at sunset, waves crashing below, cinematic", "aspectRatio": "16:9", "duration": 8, "generateAudio": true } } ] }

Valid JSON

Fast mode

Significantly faster and ~40% cheaper than standard. Good for iteration:

{
  "engine": "veo3",
  "version": "3.1",
  "prompt": "A peaceful forest path in autumn with golden leaves falling",
  "aspectRatio": "16:9",
  "duration": 8,
  "mode": "fast",
  "generateAudio": false
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "videoGen", "input": { "engine": "veo3", "version": "3.1", "prompt": "A peaceful forest path in autumn with golden leaves falling", "aspectRatio": "16:9", "duration": 8, "mode": "fast", "generateAudio": false } } ] }

Valid JSON

Lite mode (3.1 only)

Cheapest and fastest tier — roughly 70% cheaper than standard. Supports text-to-video and single image-to-video only:

{
  "engine": "veo3",
  "version": "3.1",
  "prompt": "A busy coffee shop with people working and chatting",
  "aspectRatio": "16:9",
  "duration": 8,
  "mode": "lite",
  "generateAudio": false
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "videoGen", "input": { "engine": "veo3", "version": "3.1", "prompt": "A busy coffee shop with people working and chatting", "aspectRatio": "16:9", "duration": 8, "mode": "lite", "generateAudio": false } } ] }

Valid JSON

Image-to-video

Pass one image to animate from that start frame:

{
  "engine": "veo3",
  "version": "3.1",
  "prompt": "The subject slowly turns and looks into the distance",
  "images": ["https://image.civitai.com/.../photo.jpeg"],
  "aspectRatio": "16:9",
  "duration": 8,
  "generateAudio": false
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "videoGen", "input": { "engine": "veo3", "version": "3.1", "prompt": "The subject slowly turns and looks into the distance, pensive", "images": [ "https://image.civitai.com/xG1nkqKTMzGDvpLrqFT7WA/dd4b4ad5-040f-4f0e-baa3-6e1ff00add65/original=true,quality=90,optimized=true/26781018.jpeg" ], "aspectRatio": "16:9", "duration": 8, "generateAudio": false } } ] }

Valid JSON

First-last-frame interpolation

Pass exactly two images to interpolate between a start and end frame:

{
  "engine": "veo3",
  "version": "3.1",
  "prompt": "A smooth, natural transition between the two scenes",
  "images": [
    "https://example.com/first.jpeg",
    "https://example.com/last.jpeg"
  ],
  "aspectRatio": "16:9",
  "duration": 8,
  "generateAudio": false
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "videoGen", "input": { "engine": "veo3", "version": "3.1", "prompt": "A smooth, natural transition between the two scenes", "images": [ "https://image.civitai.com/xG1nkqKTMzGDvpLrqFT7WA/dd4b4ad5-040f-4f0e-baa3-6e1ff00add65/original=true,quality=90,optimized=true/26781018.jpeg", "https://image.civitai.com/xG1nkqKTMzGDvpLrqFT7WA/e4a8f395-8166-44a8-82b1-bb0901c10aa3/original=true,quality=90,optimized=true/19325406.jpeg" ], "aspectRatio": "16:9", "duration": 8, "generateAudio": false } } ] }

Valid JSON

Reference-to-video

Pass three or more images to use them as style/subject references:

{
  "engine": "veo3",
  "version": "3.1",
  "prompt": "The character walks through a forest in this art style",
  "images": [
    "https://example.com/ref1.jpeg",
    "https://example.com/ref2.jpeg",
    "https://example.com/ref3.jpeg"
  ],
  "duration": 8
}

Operations — how images count determines operation

images[] length	Operation
0	text-to-video
1	image-to-video
2	first-last-frame-to-video
3+	reference-to-video

Lite mode restrictions

mode: "lite" only supports text-to-video (0 images) and image-to-video (1 image). Passing 2+ images with lite returns a 400.

Parameters

Field	Default	Notes
engine	— ✅	"veo3"
version	"3.1"	"3.0" or "3.1"
mode	"standard"	"standard", "fast", "lite". lite is 3.1-only.
prompt	— ✅	Generation prompt.
negativePrompt	null	What to avoid.
aspectRatio	"16:9"	"16:9", "9:16", "1:1"
duration	8	4, 6, or 8 seconds.
generateAudio	true	Emit a synchronized audio track. Disable to reduce cost by ~33%.
images[]	[]	0–3+ images. Count determines operation type.
enablePromptEnhancer	true	LLM expands the prompt before generation.
seed	random	Integer for reproducibility.

Cost

Cost scales with duration, audio, and mode.

total = baseCost(duration) × audioFactor × modeFactor

Duration	baseCost
4 s	1 667
6 s	2 500
8 s	3 333

mode	modeFactor
standard	× 1.0
fast	× 0.6
lite	× 0.3

generateAudio	audioFactor
true (default)	× 1.0
false	× 0.67

Example costs at 8 s (Buzz):

Mode	With audio	Without audio
standard	3 333	2 233
fast	2 000	1 333
lite	1 000	667

Example costs at 4 s (Buzz):

Mode	With audio	Without audio
standard	1 667	1 117
fast	1 000	667
lite	500	333

Reading the result

{
  "status": "succeeded",
  "steps": [{
    "name": "0",
    "$type": "videoGen",
    "status": "succeeded",
    "output": {
      "video": { "id": "blob_...", "url": "https://.../signed.mp4" }
    }
  }]
}

Blob URLs are signed and expire — refetch the workflow or call GetBlob for a fresh URL.

Long-running jobs

Standard 8 s typically completes in 3–7 minutes. Fast and Lite are faster. Use wait=0 + polling or webhooks:

• Webhooks (recommended): type: ["workflow:succeeded", "workflow:failed"] — see Results & webhooks
• Polling: GET /v2/consumer/workflows/{workflowId} every 10–30 s

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
400 with "lite mode only supports..."	Passed 2+ images with mode: "lite"	Use standard or fast for first-last-frame and reference-to-video.
400 with "lite mode requires version 3.1"	Used mode: "lite" with version: "3.0"	Set version: "3.1" to use lite mode.
400 with "duration must be one of"	Sent a duration not in [4, 6, 8]	Use only 4, 6, or 8 seconds.
Output lacks audio	generateAudio: false	Set generateAudio: true (the default).
Step failed, reason = "no_provider_available"	Google API queue busy	Retry shortly.
Step failed, reason = "blocked"	Google content policy	Don't retry the same input.

Related

• SubmitWorkflow — operation used by every example here
• GetWorkflow — for polling
• Results & webhooks — production result handling
• WAN video generation — open-source alternative
• Kling video generation — another commercial video model
• Kling video generation — another commercial video model