Sora 2 sync API quick start (archived)

Archived page: the Sora 2 video API has been retired. LaoZhang API stopped serving Sora 2 on July 1, 2026, and OpenAI removed the Videos API, sora-2, and sora-2-pro from its API on September 24, 2026. This page keeps the legacy route documentation for existing integrations, and its examples no longer work.For video generation, use Wan 2.7 or Seedance 2.0. To migrate, see Sora 2 API retired: move to Wan or Seedance.

This page covers the legacy route’s Sync API (/v1/chat/completions).

Prerequisites

Get API Key

Configure Billing Mode

Edit token settings, choose either billing mode (both have same price):

Usage first (按量优先, recommended): Uses balance first, auto-switches when low. Suitable for most users
Per-call (按次计费): Direct charge per call. Suitable for strict budget control

Both modes had the same historical price of $0.15 per call (10 s or 15 s); only the billing method differed.

Calls failed if no billing mode was set, so this step had to be completed first.

Text-to-Video Example

About @sama in ExamplesYou may notice @sama used in examples. This is OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s authorized ID, allowing his likeness to appear in videos.This is optional:

✓ Can use @sama or other verified IDs
✓ Can skip it and use normal scene descriptions (e.g., “a cat in a garden”)
✗ Cannot upload real person photos (will be rejected and charged)

Want yourself in the video? Requires Cameo certification in Sora iOS app. See FAQ

The simplest usage method - generate videos using only text descriptions.

curl -X POST "https://api.laozhang.ai/v1/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "sora_video2",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": [
          {
            "type": "text",
            "text": "A happy cat playing with a ball in a sunny garden"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }'

import openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
    api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
    base_url="https://api.laozhang.ai/v1"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="sora_video2",
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "text": "A happy cat playing with a ball in a sunny garden"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

const OpenAI = require('openai');

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  baseURL: 'https://api.laozhang.ai/v1'
});

async function generateVideo() {
  const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
    model: 'sora_video2',
    messages: [
      {
        role: 'user',
        content: [
          {
            type: 'text',
            text: 'A happy cat playing with a ball in a sunny garden'
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  });

  console.log(response.choices[0].message.content);
}

generateVideo();

Image-to-Video Example

Supports uploading reference images (up to 1 image), supports both URL and Base64 methods.

curl -X POST "https://api.laozhang.ai/v1/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "sora_video2",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": [
          {
            "type": "text",
            "text": "Make this character jump off the desk and come to life"
          },
          {
            "type": "image_url",
            "image_url": {
              "url": "https://example.com/images/input.png"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }'

import openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
    api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
    base_url="https://api.laozhang.ai/v1"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="sora_video2",
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "text": "Make this character jump off the desk and come to life"
                },
                {
                    "type": "image_url",
                    "image_url": {
                        "url": "https://example.com/images/input.png"
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

curl -X POST "https://api.laozhang.ai/v1/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "sora_video2",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": [
          {
            "type": "text",
            "text": "Make this character jump off the desk and come to life"
          },
          {
            "type": "image_url",
            "image_url": {
              "url": "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANS..."
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }'

Streaming Output Example

Enable streaming output to view generation progress in real-time.

import openai
import re

client = openai.OpenAI(
    api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
    base_url="https://api.laozhang.ai/v1"
)

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="sora_video2",
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "text": "A cute cat playing with a ball in a sunny garden"
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    stream=True
)

# Store full content to extract video link
full_content = ""

print("Generation progress:\n")
for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        content = chunk.choices[0].delta.content
        print(content, end='', flush=True)
        full_content += content

print("\n")

# Extract video link
video_url_match = re.search(r'https://[^\s\)]+\.mp4', full_content)
if video_url_match:
    video_url = video_url_match.group(0)
    print(f"\n✅ Video link: {video_url}")
    print("⚠️  Video valid for 1 day, download immediately!")
else:
    print("\n❌ Video link not found, generation may have failed")

const OpenAI = require('openai');

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  baseURL: 'https://api.laozhang.ai/v1'
});

async function generateVideoStream() {
  const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
    model: 'sora_video2',
    messages: [
      {
        role: 'user',
        content: [
          {
            type: 'text',
            text: 'A cute cat playing with a ball in a sunny garden'
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    stream: true
  });

  for await (const chunk of stream) {
    if (chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content) {
      process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0].delta.content);
    }
  }
}

generateVideoStream();

Output Interpretation

Streaming Output Format

When "stream": true is enabled, API returns SSE (Server-Sent Events) format:

data: {"id":"foaicmpl-xxx","object":"chat.completion.chunk","created":1759759480,"model":"sora_video2","choices":[{"index":0,"delta":{"role":"assistant"},"finish_reason":null}]}

data: {"id":"foaicmpl-xxx","object":"chat.completion.chunk","created":1759759480,"model":"sora_video2","choices":[{"index":0,"delta":{"content":"```json\n{\n    \"prompt\": \"A happy cat playing with a ball in a sunny garden\",\n    \"mode\": \"Vertical Mode\"\n}\n```\n\n"},"finish_reason":null}]}

data: {"id":"foaicmpl-xxx","object":"chat.completion.chunk","created":1759759480,"model":"sora_video2","choices":[{"index":0,"delta":{"content":"> ⌛️ Task is in queue, please wait patiently...\n\n"},"finish_reason":null}]}

data: {"id":"foaicmpl-xxx","object":"chat.completion.chunk","created":1759759480,"model":"sora_video2","choices":[{"index":0,"delta":{"content":"> 🏃 Progress: 36.0%\n\n"},"finish_reason":null}]}

data: {"id":"foaicmpl-xxx","object":"chat.completion.chunk","created":1759759480,"model":"sora_video2","choices":[{"index":0,"delta":{"content":"> ✅ Video generated successfully, [Click here](https://example.com/sora/video.mp4) to view video~~~\n\n"},"finish_reason":null}]}

data: {"id":"foaicmpl-xxx","object":"chat.completion.chunk","created":1759759480,"model":"sora_video2","choices":[{"index":0,"delta":{},"finish_reason":"stop"}],"usage":{"prompt_tokens":17,"completion_tokens":244,"total_tokens":261}}

data: [DONE]

Key Field Descriptions

choices[0].delta.content: Contains progress information or final video link
finish_reason: When "stop", generation is complete
usage: Last message contains token usage
Video link: Provided as Markdown link in success message

Generation Time

Queue Wait: Depends on peak hours
Video Generation: About 2-3 minutes (for 10-second video)
Total: 2-5 minutes on average

Next Steps

Sora 2 API retired

Move to Wan 2.7 or Seedance 2.0

API Reference

View legacy API documentation

Code Examples

View more usage examples

FAQ

Common issues and solutions

Important Notes

Remember to download videos immediately!Generated video URLs are valid for only 1 day. Please download to local storage after generation to avoid losing videos.

Model selection:

sora_video2: Vertical screen (704×1280), suitable for mobile viewing
sora_video2-landscape: Horizontal screen (1280×704), suitable for widescreen displays

Get started

Image Generation & Editing APIs

Video Generation APIs

Text APIs

Multimodal & Audio APIs

Sora 2 sync API quick start (archived)

Prerequisites

Text-to-Video Example

Image-to-Video Example

Streaming Output Example

Output Interpretation

Streaming Output Format

Key Field Descriptions

Generation Time

Next Steps

Sora 2 API retired

API Reference

Code Examples

FAQ

Important Notes

​Prerequisites

​Text-to-Video Example

​Image-to-Video Example

​Streaming Output Example

​Output Interpretation

​Streaming Output Format

​Key Field Descriptions

​Generation Time

​Next Steps

Sora 2 API retired

API Reference

Code Examples

FAQ

​Important Notes

Prerequisites

Text-to-Video Example

Image-to-Video Example

Streaming Output Example

Output Interpretation

Streaming Output Format

Key Field Descriptions

Generation Time

Next Steps

Important Notes