Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video
Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video animates reference images into video with synchronized native audio, including speech, sound effects, and ambient sound, in a single API request with first/last frame control at up to 1080p.
import { experimental_generateVideo as generateVideo } from 'ai';
const result = await generateVideo({ model: 'klingai/kling-v2.6-i2v', prompt: 'A serene mountain lake at sunrise.'});Playground
Try out Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video by Kling AI. Usage is billed to your team at API rates. Free users (those who haven't made a payment) get $5 of credits every 30 days.
Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video
Your generated video will appear here.
Providers
Route requests across multiple providers. Copy a provider slug to set your preference. Visit the docs for more info. Using a provider means you agree to their terms, listed under Legal.
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About Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video
Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video is the first Kling image-to-video release with native audio generation. It eliminates the post-production step of aligning a separately rendered audio track to a silent clip. The audio layer covers three categories: natural speech in Chinese and English, action-synchronized sound effects, and environmental ambience. All audio renders in the same inference pass that produces the video frames.
The reference image grounds the visual output. The model animates the scene depicted in the provided image rather than generating visual content from scratch. First-frame and last-frame anchoring carry forward from prior versions. You can define both the opening and closing visual states, and the model fills in the motion path between those anchors. This works well for product reveals, character entrances, or controlled transitions where you've defined the start and end configurations photographically.
For content teams working on social media clips, product demos, or localized marketing materials, audio-video unification in v2.6 reduces pipeline stages per finished asset. A reference product photograph plus a text description produces a complete video with visuals and sound. No separate text-to-speech (TTS) or sound effects (SFX) processing step is needed.
The v2.6 generation also improves visual quality over v2.5, with better temporal consistency across frames and sharper rendering of complex scenes.
What To Consider When Choosing a Provider
- Configuration: Audio generation supports Chinese and English speech synthesis. If you need other languages, confirm support before you ship.
- Zero Data Retention: AI Gateway does not currently support Zero Data Retention for this model. See the documentation for models that support ZDR.
- Authentication: AI Gateway authenticates requests using an API key or OIDC token. You do not need to manage provider credentials directly.
When to Use Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video
Best for
- Brand and product videos: Reference imagery anchors visuals and synchronized audio narration or ambient sound is required
- Localized short-form video: Chinese or English speech synthesis tied to existing photography
- Controlled transitions with audio: Animation between two defined visual states with audio accompaniment
- Advertising clips: Social media and ad content where audio-video sync is expected and a reference image defines the visual subject
Consider alternatives when
- Silent video preferred: You don't need audio output and prefer the lower cost of a silent tier, so V2.5 Turbo i2v is faster and cheaper
- Multi-shot sequences: You need narrative sequences with distinct scene changes, which later Kling versions support
- Text-driven visuals: A text description rather than a reference image should drive visual content, so use the t2v variant
Conclusion
Kling v2.6 Image-to-Video unifies image animation and audio generation in one inference call. If you used to pair silent AI video with separate audio, you drop a sync step. Teams animating reference imagery into full clips with sound get fewer handoffs than with silent tiers.