image_url or reference_image_urls: the Omni field for a photo

On Gemini Omni Flash 1.1, send the product photo in image_url when you want the clip to start from that exact picture, and in reference_image_urls when you want the model to use it as a guide for the product. The catalog rule is that a single reference image with no first or end frame is treated as reference-to-video. Both bill 12.5 cents a second at 720p.

Two fields, two modes

The Video Router docs list image-to-video as image_url with an optional end_image_url, and reference-to-video as reference_image_urls (up to 10) and reference_video_urls (up to 3).

Pick by the shot

A packshot on white that must be the first frame is image-to-video. A bottle that must appear on a beach, in a hand and on a shelf is reference-to-video, since the framing is open. In a reference request, name the asset in the prompt with its tag so the model does not guess.

You cannot send video_url together with image_url, end_image_url or the reference fields. For a start frame plus an edit, run two jobs.

{
  "model": "gemini-omni-flash-1.1",
  "prompt": "The bottle from <IMAGE_REF_0> on a sunny beach, slow orbit.",
  "reference_image_urls": ["https://example.com/bottle.png"],
  "resolution": "720p",
  "duration": 5,
  "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
  "mode": "async"
}

Price and retries

Five seconds at 720p is 5 x 12.5 = 62.5, so 63 cents, in either mode. The cost of picking the wrong mode is a retry at that price. Test the choice at 360p first: 5 s is 19 cents.

Sume rounds each clip up to the next whole cent, so a clip total is ceil(seconds x rate), not a sum of fractional cents.

The same length at every tier

For reference, a 5-second Omni Flash clip at each resolution. Every price is the seconds times the billable rate, rounded up to a whole cent, as of 2026-10-08.

Limits to remember

These apply to every request on this page, from the Video Router and Video generation docs:

• Length is 3 to 10 whole seconds in generation modes; an edit takes no duration.
• Aspect ratio is 16:9 or 9:16; an edit takes no aspect ratio.
• Native synced audio is always on, and generate_audio: false is rejected.
• There is no bitrate_mode, no reference audio and no seed.
• Billing is the provider list times 1.25 per output second, reserved at submit and shown in usage.cost.