How to animate a photo

It is ready in 2-5 minutes. There is no free tier and no trial. The steps are upload, choose a move, render, and download.

What you are making

Animate a photo starts from a picture. The photo is required, and it is what moves. The prompt is optional: leave it blank, tap a move, or write one sentence.

One payment buys one clip. The receipt on Animate a photo is the spec.

• Length: 5 seconds
• Saved size: 540x960, a portrait MP4
• Price: $1, paid once
• File: silent, with no watermark
• Subscription: not required for this clip
• Turnaround: 2-5 minutes

A second move is a second clip at the same price. A prompt longer than 500 characters is shortened before you pay. A shorter note that lists several moves is still one clip. Name the one move you want.

What you need

You need a photo you have the right to use. The form stops until you confirm. The message is "Confirm you have the right to use this photo." A file that is not a photo is refused before any charge, with the message "That file is not a photo."

You need an account. If you are not signed in, Render a clip sends you to sign up and keeps the photo and the prompt for that visit. New accounts start with no credits. There is no free tier and no trial, so the first clip is a purchase of $1. The page is built for one motion of 5 seconds, not a routine and not a longer cut.

Animate a photo, step by step

Open Animate a photo.

Upload the photo. The field is labeled "Photo, required" Tick that you have the right to use it. The upload is saved as a JPEG: turned upright from its orientation tag, converted to a flat color image, long edge at or under 2048 pixels. Transparent areas are not kept. An unpaid upload expires after 24 hours.

Pick a move, or write your own. The cards on the page are Wave and smile, Old photo comes alive, Pet moves, and Memorial, gentle. Tapping a card fills its sentence into the prompt, and you can edit that sentence. The prompt field is labeled "Prompt" and the placeholder is "How the photo should move." Leaving the prompt blank is allowed on this product.

Walk to camera, Dance, and Wedding are not cards on that page. Paste the sentence, or open the page that fills it. Animate old photos uses Old photo comes alive. Make a photo dance fills Dance. Opening /animate-photo-ai/?template=animate_dance fills the dance sentence even though that card is not shown.

Press Render a clip. If you are not signed in, you create an account and return to this form with the photo and the prompt kept. Press Render a clip again. With no credits, that opens the $1 checkout. You do not need a monthly plan for this shot. If the account already has credits, the clip starts from those credits.

The file is ready in 2-5 minutes. The email subject is "Your clip is ready". Download the MP4 from your library: portrait 540x960, 5 seconds, silent, no watermark. If the render fails, the credits for that clip come back, and the email subject is "Your clip didn't render. Your credits are back.".

Which photo to upload

The upload does not rebuild the room, change the clothes, or repair the print. The render can still change how the photo looks, so upload the picture you want to see moving.

Wave and smile names a wave, so keep the hands in frame. Walk to camera and Dance name a step, so include the body. A face that fills the frame matches a blink or a look up. A face that is a small part of a group gives that face less room to move.

The upload is not relit. A shadow across the eyes or a bright window behind the person is still the picture that gets sent.

Old scans belong on Animate old photos. The move is a blink and a look up. The upload does not restore the print and it does not colorize it, so creases, grain, and fading stay in the file. Upload the cleaner scan. A scan of one print gives the face more room than a photo of a whole album page.

Transparency is lost. The stored file is a JPEG, so an empty background in a PNG does not stay empty. Put the subject on the background you want before you upload. A very large scan is reduced so the long edge is at or under 2048 pixels.

If the clip is not the motion you wanted, change one thing and render again. That next try is another clip at $1.

Moves and the sentences they fill

Each move is one sentence: who is in the photo, and the single thing they do. Use one of these, or write one sentence of your own.

The cards on Animate a photo:

• Wave and smile. "The person in the photo waves and smiles at the camera."
• Old photo comes alive. "An old photograph comes alive. The person blinks and looks up."
• Pet moves. "The pet in the photo lifts its head and looks at the camera."
• Memorial, gentle. "The person in the photo is still, then offers a small smile. Soft light."

The other moves are not cards on that landing. Paste the sentence into the prompt, or open the page that fills it. Make a photo dance is the page for the dance move.

• Walk to camera. "The person in the photo walks toward the camera."
• Dance. "The person in the photo dances, one step, then a turn."
• Wedding. "The couple in the photo lean together and smile."

Renders of these moves

Featured renders of these moves show under this heading when a finished clip for that move has been marked featured. Each tile is that clip, with the prompt that made it. Until a clip is featured, the slot under this heading is empty.

What one clip does not do

It does not speak, and it does not carry a song. The picture is silent. If you want a voice or a song, add them after you download the MP4.

It is not free. There is no free tier and no trial. Every clip is $1. The file you download has no watermark.

It does not restore or colorize an old photo. Scratches, fading, and the crop stay in the upload. The clip adds one small motion, and the render can still change how the scan looks. Start from the cleanest scan you have.

It does not keep a transparent background. The stored upload is a JPEG, with the long edge at or under 2048 pixels.

It is one portrait clip at 540x960, 5 seconds long. It is not a landscape file, not a longer cut, and not a second shot in the same payment. It does not invent a new room or a new outfit. The photo you upload is the frame that moves.

After you download

The MP4 is the file you take into the editor you already use. Add a song there, or a title, or a cut beside other shots. Come back to Animate a photo when you want another move. Each return is another clip at $1.

Old photographs have their own page at Animate old photos. A step and a turn have theirs at Make a photo dance. Both open the same product with that move filled in.