What is Sora? The 2026 shutdown of OpenAI's video app

Sora is OpenAI's AI video model and app. As of October 12, 2026, you can no longer use it: the web and app closed on April 26, 2026, and the API closed on September 24, 2026.

Sora is OpenAI's text-to-video model, first shown in 2024

In February 2024, OpenAI introduced Sora, a model that turns a written description into a video up to one minute long. At first, only safety red teamers and a group of visual artists, designers and filmmakers had access.

On December 9, 2024, OpenAI moved Sora out of research preview with Sora Turbo on sora.com. You could make videos up to 1080p and up to 20 seconds long, in widescreen, vertical or square formats, from text, images or your own clips.

On September 30, 2025, the company released Sora 2, a model that generates both picture and sound, with dialogue and sound effects that match the scene. It came with a social iOS app also called Sora, with a feed and a feature called characters that let you put yourself into a scene after a one-time verification recording.

The Sora 2 System Card lists its gains over the first model: more accurate physics, sharper realism, synchronized audio, better steerability and a wider range of styles. The Sora 2 announcement still admits the model makes plenty of mistakes.

Sora is gone: web and app closed April 26, API closed September 24

On March 24, 2026, OpenAI told developers that the Videos API and the Sora 2 models would be removed. The OpenAI API Deprecations page lists sora-2, sora-2-pro and their dated snapshots with a shutdown date of September 24, 2026. The replacement column is empty.

The help article What to know about the Sora discontinuation confirms both dates. The Sora web and app experiences ended on April 26, 2026, and the API ended on September 24, 2026. The Sora pages on openai.com cited here now all carry the line "As of April 26, 2026, the Sora product is no longer available".

OpenAI does not give a reason for closing Sora on its help or documentation pages. News outlets have offered theories, but this article sticks to what the company itself has published.

Can you still use Sora anywhere, on any plan?

No. Since April 26, 2026, Sora has been closed for every user, in every country, on every ChatGPT plan.

Before that, access came with ChatGPT plans. At the December 2024 launch, Sora was included with ChatGPT Plus for up to 50 videos at 480p per month. Pro offered 10 times more usage, higher resolutions and longer clips. Sora was not part of Team, Enterprise or Edu and was not open to anyone under 18. It was available wherever ChatGPT was, except the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the European Economic Area.

Sora 2 started in the U.S. and Canada, by invitation, free with generous limits that depended on available compute. ChatGPT Pro users also got the higher quality Sora 2 Pro model on sora.com.

ChatGPT does not offer a video feature in its place. On September 8, 2026, OpenAI Support replied on the company forum that it would pass along a request for video creation inside ChatGPT, with no timeline to share.

The Sora API was also removed on September 24, 2026. So if a site or app still advertises "video made with OpenAI's Sora", be careful before you pay.

Get your old videos and money back: export early, use credits for Codex

The help article says you can export what you made at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset: click Export, then wait for an email saying your files are ready. If OpenAI offers a final export window, it will email you before it begins.

After Sora closes and any final export window ends, OpenAI will permanently delete the data tied to your Sora use. If you still have videos you care about, try the export now.

For money, the Sora article points to How do I request a refund for my ChatGPT subscription?. That page says payments are generally non-refundable. For an unused individual subscription, you may get a discretionary refund if you contact OpenAI within seven days of the charge. Any ChatGPT or Sora credits you bought can still be used for Codex.

Sora videos carry a watermark and C2PA so viewers know they are AI

Sora videos still circulate on social media, so it helps to know the signs. The Sora 2 System Card lists three layers. Every file carries C2PA metadata, and videos downloaded from sora.com or the Sora app carry a visible moving watermark. The third layer is internal tools that check whether a video or audio clip came from OpenAI products.

The reason OpenAI gives is that Sora 2 video and audio look and sound very real, which raises the risk of using someone's likeness without consent and of misleading clips. The March 23, 2026 post Creating with Sora safely says many outputs carry a moving watermark with the creator's name. Videos made from photos of real people always carry a watermark when shared.

C2PA, also called Content Credentials, is an open standard that records which tool made a file and when. The help article on provenance signals says OpenAI video uses Content Credentials, and that this information can be lost through everyday steps like a screenshot or a file conversion.

So a missing label does not prove a video is real. The openai.com/verify checker currently accepts images and audio, not video. If you repost a Sora video, keep the label and say clearly that it is AI-generated so viewers are not misled.

Making AI video today means picking a tool that still works

In short: Sora's web and app closed on April 26, 2026, the API closed on September 24, 2026, and old content can be exported at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset. The OpenAI help article says data is permanently deleted after any final export window. ChatGPT has no announced date for video creation.

If you need a video tool that still works, browse the guides on Google Flow and free AI video makers in the News section. What did you use Sora for, and have you found a replacement yet?

Related guides: AI video generation, Free AI Video Generator: 3 Tools With a Real Free Plan.

Sources (10) · accessed Oct 12, 2026

• OpenAI Help Center: What to know about the Sora discontinuation
• OpenAI Help Center: How do I request a refund for my ChatGPT subscription?
• OpenAI Help Center: Provenance signals in OpenAI-generated content
• OpenAI API: Deprecations
• OpenAI: Sora: Creating video from text
• OpenAI: Sora is here
• OpenAI: Sora 2 is here
• OpenAI: Creating with Sora safely
• OpenAI Deployment Safety Hub: Sora 2 System Card
• OpenAI Developer Community: Full video generation inside ChatGPT

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