Veo 3 Adds Vertical AI Video, Cheaper Pricing, and Higher Resolution
Veo 3 Adds Vertical AI Video, Cheaper Pricing, and Higher Resolution
Google has rolled out a meaningful update to its Veo 3 video generator, layering in 1080p output, a vertical aspect ratio, and a round of price cuts aimed squarely at developers.
Two stills from vertical clips Google produced with the updated Veo 3 (Image: Google).
Vertical formats arrive for both Veo 3 and Veo 3 Fast
According to the announcement posted on Google's developer blog, both Veo 3 and the lighter, cheaper Veo 3 Fast variant — which trades quality for speed — can now generate clips in a 9:16 aspect ratio. That portrait orientation is the natural fit for phones and the social feeds that dominate mobile viewing.
The catch is that this is a developer-facing feature. Vertical output is toggled by setting the aspectRatio parameter to 9:16 in an API request, so it only matters to teams building apps on top of Veo 3 rather than casual users hitting a button in an app.
1080p resolution, with one caveat
The same update lets developers bump generated video up to 1080p, a step beyond the previous 720p ceiling. As Neowin notes, however, that higher resolution is currently limited to 16:9 clips, so the bump and the new vertical mode don't yet overlap.
Lower prices and "production-ready" status
Google is also declaring both models "stable and ready for scaled production use in the Gemini API," and it has trimmed the cost of generating with them considerably:
| Model | New price | Previous price |
|---|---|---|
| Veo 3 | $0.40 / second | $0.75 / second |
| Veo 3 Fast | $0.15 / second | $0.40 / second |
To show off the changes, Google shared a few clips made in the new vertical format — including one of a rock climber delivering the line, "Veo 3 is now, like, 50 percent cheaper and higher quality, so go build."
More AI video headed to vertical platforms
None of this is especially surprising. Back in June, Google said Veo 3 support would land in YouTube Shorts "later this summer." Now that developers can wire the vertical format into their own apps, expect Veo 3 output to spread across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and similar platforms — which also means still more AI slop competing for our attention.