Google Upgrades Veo 3.1 With 4K Upscaling and Native Vertical Video

Google is shipping 4K and 1080p upscaling, native 9:16 vertical output, and improved character and background consistency to Veo 3.1's Ingredients to Video feature, the company announced today. The update lands across the Gemini app, YouTube, Flow, Google Vids, the Gemini API, and Vertex AI.

The release sharpens Google's position in the increasingly competitive AI video generation market, where it faces OpenAI's Sora, Runway, and Kling. Consistency — keeping a character's face or a scene's objects stable across shots — remains one of the hardest technical problems in the field, and Google says it has made specific progress there.

What's new in Ingredients to Video

Ingredients to Video lets users generate clips from reference images. Google says the updated version produces "richer dialogue and storytelling" and makes videos "feel more alive and expressive," even with short prompts.

The consistency improvements target three specific failure modes that have plagued AI video:

Character identity. Characters now keep the same appearance even as settings change, which lets creators place a single character across multiple scenes and tell a full narrative.

Backgrounds and objects. Users can maintain the integrity of a setting and the objects within it, and reuse an object, background, or texture across scenes.

Blending. The model can combine disparate elements — characters, objects, textures, and stylized backgrounds — into one cohesive clip.

Google also offered a workflow tip: use Nano Banana Pro, the image model also known as Gemini 3 Pro Image, in the Gemini app or Flow to create ingredient images, then feed those into Veo 3.1.

Built for mobile-first video

For the first time, Ingredients to Video supports native 9:16 aspect ratio output. That means full-screen vertical video for YouTube Shorts and other short-form platforms without cropping or quality loss — a direct answer to where most AI-generated video actually gets consumed.

Google describes the new upscaling as "state-of-the-art." The improved 1080p output is positioned as a cleaner, sharper option suited for editing, while 4K targets "high-end productions and large screens" with richer textures and detail.

Where to get it

Availability splits across consumer and enterprise surfaces:

• Consumers and creators: Veo 3.1 Ingredients to Video arrives in YouTube Shorts and the YouTube Create app for the first time. Enhanced Ingredients to Video and portrait mode are available in the Gemini app starting today.
• Professional and enterprise workflows: The enhanced feature and native vertical format support roll out to Flow, the Gemini API, Vertex AI, and Google Vids. The 1080p and 4K resolution options are available on Flow, the Gemini API, and Vertex AI.

Provenance and SynthID verification

All videos generated with Google's tools carry an imperceptible SynthID digital watermark. In December, Google expanded its verification tool in the Gemini app to include video: users can upload a clip and simply ask whether it was generated with Google AI, building on existing image verification.

The verification push matters as regulators and platforms pressure AI companies to label synthetic media. Google is betting that embedded watermarks plus in-app checking tools can foster what it calls "a more transparent ecosystem for everyone."

With 4K output, native vertical formats, and its first YouTube Shorts integration, Google is clearly aiming Veo 3.1 at both casual creators and production workflows — a sign the company sees AI video moving from novelty to standard tooling.