What Is Sora? OpenAI's AI Video Model, Its Sunset, and Where to Go Next

Sora is one of the most influential names in AI video — and as of April 2026, it is also officially shutting down. If you landed here trying to understand what Sora is, what Sora 2 could do, or which tool to use now that the product is gone, this guide collects everything in one place. We will cover its history, the full feature list, the discontinuation timeline, and the cleanest path forward for creators who depended on it.

What is Sora? A quick definition

Sora is OpenAI's text-to-video and image-to-video AI model. It was built to turn natural-language prompts into short cinematic clips, and the second-generation release added synchronized native audio, physically more accurate motion, and finer directorial control. In OpenAI's own words, Sora 2 was designed to be "physically accurate, realistic, and controllable" — the headline upgrade over the original model.

A short Sora timeline

The short version: Sora pushed text-to-video into the mainstream, the v2 release lifted the bar on audio and physics — and the consumer experience is no longer available.

What Sora 2 could do — categorized feature list

Following the "categorize and list" SEO principle, here is everything Sora 2 advertised, grouped by capability:

Generation modes

• Text-to-video — type a prompt, get a clip.
• Image-to-video — upload one image and let the model animate it.
• Cameo mode — register your face inside the app and remix yourself into clips you generate.

Audio

• Synchronized native audio — Sora 2 produced lip-sync, footsteps and ambient sound together with the visuals.

Control

• Cinematic motion that respected basic physics.
• Portrait or landscape framing chosen at generation time.
• A Pro tier for higher resolution and longer clips.

Workflow surfaces

• iOS Sora app on the App Store (US and Canada).
• Desktop access via sora.com (no cameo creation on desktop).
• An official API for developers and product builders.

How to use Sora (when it was live)

For historical reference, the standard workflow looked like this:

1. Subscribe to ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro.
2. Install the Sora iOS app from the App Store or open sora.com.
3. (Early on) Redeem an invite code.
4. Tap the plus icon to start a new clip.
5. Write a prompt, attach a photo, or select an existing cameo.
6. Choose portrait or landscape, then pick Sora 2 or Sora 2 Pro.
7. Tap Generate, review the render in Drafts, then download or publish.

This is also where InVideo, EaseMate and other third-party tools wrapped the model — they essentially exposed the same prompt-and-mode flow with their own UI layers on top of the official API.

The Sora shutdown — what users need to do

If you still have clips inside Sora, here is what OpenAI's help docs say:

• Web and app shut down on April 26, 2026. After that date, sora.com and the iOS app no longer work.
• API shutdown is scheduled for September 24, 2026. Any product calling the API will need to migrate before then.
• Export your media by opening your Library, clicking the ⋯ menu and selecting Download.
• Full data export is available through OpenAI's Privacy Portal — go to "Make a Privacy Request" and then "Download my data".

Save anything you might need now: once the API switches off, the door closes for good.

Where to go after Sora — the actively-maintained alternative

If you came here looking for a working AI video tool now that Sora is gone, the most direct replacement is Seedance — the actively maintained Sora alternative. Seedance is built around the same goals Sora popularised — natural-language prompts, cinematic motion, native audio — but with three concrete advantages over what late-stage Sora offered:

• Multimodal references inside one prompt. Where Sora 2 capped you at one image, Seedance accepts up to 9 reference images, 3 short videos and 3 audio clips in a single generation.
• No invite code, no waitlist. Seedance runs in the browser; you log in and generate.
• Reference-aware character consistency. Build a character profile once and Seedance reuses it across episodes — exactly the kind of brand-led workflow that Sora users were stitching together by hand.

How to migrate from Sora to Seedance

Three steps to move your old Sora workflow over:

1. Export everything from your Sora account before the API sunset on September 24, 2026.
2. Open the free Seedance text-to-video studio on our home page and sign in.
3. Recreate your top prompts in Seedance. The prompt language carries over directly — scene, subject, camera, rhythm. Add reference images for stronger control.

Most teams report that the same Sora-era prompt produces a richer, more directed clip in Seedance because of the wider multimodal input.

Final thoughts on Sora — and what comes next

Sora was a landmark for AI video. The v2 release pushed the field forward with synchronized audio and physical realism, and the social app made AI video genuinely consumer. But the platform is winding down, and creators need a tool that ships today.

Open the Seedance AI video generator with reference uploads on our home page, paste any Sora-style prompt, and hit Generate. Your first Seedance render is free — and unlike Sora, the door stays open.