Media tools
Sume media tools by API: trim, filter, captions, frames, inspect, speech-to-text, upscaling, background removal, transitions, and Timeline assembly.
Start with Video editing API limits: Sume media tool caps in one table
Captions for a video with loud background music: script text or cues
Music can bury speech and trip speech-to-text. Sume documents three ways to supply your own wording: script_text, a words array or cues. Which to pick.
Crop 16:9 to 9:16 with video filter: the fractions to send
For a 16:9 source, a centred 9:16 crop is x 0.3418, y 0, width 0.3164, height 1. One $0.02 video-filter job, checked free first. Examples for 1920x1080.
How many 6-second clips fill a 3-minute Short, Reel or TikTok ad?
A 3-minute Short needs 30 six-second clips, a 20-minute Reel 200, a 10-minute TikTok ad 100. Slot limits, chunked renders and Timeline cost for each.
Move burned-in captions up or down: restyle with source_caption_id
Change caption placement with design.placement.anchor_ratio and restyle with source_caption_id: the same word timings, no second speech-to-text run.
ChatGPT Sora clip as reference video: Omni takes 3 s each, trim
Sora 2 left the API but a ChatGPT clip can still seed a new render. Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 on Sume takes up to 3 reference videos, each 3 s at most.
Inspect a 3-minute Short with a transcript: set duration_seconds 180
video-inspect reserves one minute of speech-to-text unless you send duration_seconds (max 600). Why a 180 hint matters, the $0.01 per minute rate, and the 400s.
Two-voice dialogue audio on Sume: TTS lines joined with audio concat
Build a role-play or interview track by generating one TTS line per turn in each speaker's voice, then joining up to 20 turns into one gapless file for $0.01.
video-filter invalid_filtergraph: every reason and the fix for each
A video-filter filtergraph is refused for eight reasons, from a [0:v] label to a quote character. What each one means and how to rewrite the graph so it passes.
Pan and scan a 1.85:1 trailer to vertical: one crop per shot
For a 1.85:1 trailer, trim each shot, then crop it at its own x offset: width 0.304054, x 0 to 0.695946. A three-shot plan with job count, cost and order.
Mute a clip or extract its audio? Trim audio drop vs audio detach
Video trim with audio drop returns a silent MP4; audio detach returns a separate wav or mp3 and leaves the video alone. Which to use, and the warnings.
video-inspect frames: at[] and fps together is a 400, pick one
video-inspect and video-frames take a list of times or a sample rate, never both. The codes, the 24-still cap, the fps 2 ceiling, and the empty object.
video-filter dim amount 0 or 1.2 is refused: the (0, 1] range
Dim amount takes values above 0 up to 1. Zero, negatives and 1.2 return video_filter_amount_out_of_range. What it does, and how to lift a dark clip.
Do fades shift my cuts? Timeline start times with transitions
In Timeline 1.0 a slot's declared start is its place on the audio spine, fade or no fade. The compiler compensates for the xfade overlap; gaps hold a frame.
Crop a 5:4 monitor clip to 9:16: width 0.45 and the exact sizes
A 5:4 clip crops to 9:16 with width 0.45 and x 0.275. At 1280x1024 that is 576x1024, at 1600x1280 it is 720x1280. Two sizes, one body, and why it is exact.
Crop a 16:10 MacBook screen recording to 9:16: width 0.3516
A 16:10 recording needs crop width 0.3515625 for 9:16: 900x1600 at 2560x1600, but 674x1200 at 1920x1200 because 675 is odd. The request and the rounding.
Audio detach size for a 180 s Short: 34.56 MB wav, 2.88 MB mp3
The byte arithmetic for a 3-minute track from audio detach: stereo 48 kHz wav, mono 16 kHz wav and 128 kbps mp3, with the fields that set each size.
Source too long? The 1800 s and 300 s caps for each Sume media tool
Trim, detach and inspect take sources up to 1800 s; filter, frames and compose stop at 300 s. The error each returns and the order to cut a long file.
Which URL does each Sume media tool accept: public or media.sume.com?
Video captions and face swap take a public HTTPS URL; trim, filter, frames, inspect, detach, compose and timeline need your workspace's media.sume.com file.
video-frames returned a null url: the job succeeded, one frame failed
If one instant fails to extract, video-frames sets that frame's url to null and the job still completes. How to detect it and retry only that time.
Crop a 2:1 landscape phone recording to 9:16: width 0.28125
A 2:1 (18:9) landscape clip needs width 0.28125 for 9:16: exact at 1920x960 (540x960), 606 px at 2160x1080. The offset, the rounding and the full request.
video-filter unsupported_filter_op_field: crop and dim keys allowed
A crop op takes four fractions and dim takes one amount; any extra key returns unsupported_filter_op_field. The exact key lists and where the extra work goes.
Reuse one sentence twice: timeline audio split allows overlaps
Timeline audio split takes up to 20 ranges that may overlap, so one hook sentence can open and close a video without re-recording or re-synthesising it.
Crop 9:16 to 2:3 for Pinterest: height 0.84375, then 1000x1500
A 1080x1920 clip becomes 1080x1620 (2:3) with a crop of height 0.84375. Pinterest's page recommends 1000 x 1500 for Showcase and Collections video.
Crop 3:4 to 2:3 for Pinterest: width 0.8889, x 0.0556 centered
A 1080x1440 clip becomes 960x1440 (2:3) by cropping width to 0.8889. Pinterest recommends 2:3 for Showcase and Collections; here are the numbers and request.
Crop 9:16 to 4:5 for Facebook feed: height 0.703125, y 0.148
A 1080x1920 clip becomes 1080x1350 (4:5) with a crop of width 1 and height 0.703125. Meta's Facebook feed page lists 4:5 at 1440x1800; here is the request.
Crop a 2:3 Pinterest video to 4:5 for Facebook: height 0.8333
A 1000x1500 Pinterest video becomes 1000x1250 (4:5) with a crop of height 0.8333. Facebook's feed page lists 4:5 at 1440x1800; request inside.
Crop 4:5 to 1:1 for a TikTok ad: height 0.8 and the 640x640 minimum
TikTok's in-feed page lists 1:1 with a 640x640 minimum. A 1080x1350 feed clip crops to 1080x1080 with height 0.8, y 0.1 centered, then clears it easily.
Facebook feed video ad minimum is 120 px; Sume's smallest is 256
Meta's Facebook feed video spec lists 120 px minimum sides. Sume Timeline renders even sizes from 256 to 2160, so the floor never blocks an upload.
Meta wants a fixed frame rate: set Timeline output.fps when clips mix
Meta's Facebook feed page requires a fixed frame rate. Sume Timeline takes output.fps 24, 25, 30 or 60, and mixed-rate sources are resampled with judder.
Crop 21:9 to a 1:1 square: width 0.4286, centered x 0.2857
A 2520x1080 ultrawide clip becomes 1080x1080 with a crop of width 0.4286. TikTok's in-feed page lists 1:1 at a 640x640 minimum. Request and numbers inside.
Crop a 720p 16:9 clip to 1:1: 720x720 clears TikTok's 640x640
A 1280x720 clip cropped with width 0.5625 gives 720x720, which clears TikTok's 640x640 square minimum with 80 px to spare. Request and numbers inside.
YouTube lists 1440p at 16 Mbps; Sume Timeline cannot output 2560x1440
YouTube recommends 16 Mbps for 1440p SDR. Sume Timeline caps each edge at 2160, so 2560x1440 is not possible; the closest 16:9 render is 2160x1214.
Instagram feed video ad 1% ratio tolerance in pixels at 1080 wide
Meta lists a 1% aspect ratio tolerance for Instagram feed video ads. Read as relative, at 1080 wide that is about 1902-1938 px tall; Sume's 1080x1920 is exact.
TikTok horizontal ad minimum is 960x540: which 16:9 sizes clear it
TikTok's in-feed page lists 960 x 540 as the minimum for 16:9. Sume Timeline accepts 960x540, 1280x720 and 1920x1080, all at $0.10 per output minute.
Can Gemini Omni edit change a video's aspect ratio? No
On Sume, Omni's edit mode takes a video_url and a prompt, defaults to 720p and accepts no aspect_ratio or duration. A 16:9 source stays 16:9, so plan the crop.
Crop 3:2 to 4:5 for the feeds: width 0.5333, x 0.2333 centered
A 1620x1080 (3:2) clip becomes 864x1080 (4:5) with a crop of width 0.5333. Meta lists 4:5 for the Facebook feed; here is the request and the catch.
Pinterest Showcase video: 3 to 60 seconds, 2:3, 1000x1500 on Sume
Pinterest's spec page lists 3-60 seconds, 2:3 and 1000 x 1500 for Showcase video. Sume Timeline can render 1000x1500 and a 3-second cut costs the same $0.10.
Omni 40-second ad: resend the packshot at every 10-second step
Google extends Omni clips to 40 s in 10 s steps with 10 s of prior context. On Sume, four 720p clips with the packshot as a reference cost $5.00.
YouTube 480p at 2.5 Mbps and 360p at 1 Mbps: size of a 60-second draft
YouTube lists 2.5 Mbps for 480p and 1 Mbps for 360p SDR uploads. A 60-second clip at those rates is about 18.75 MB and 7.5 MB; Sume sets no bitrate itself.
Crop 9:16 to 16:9 for TikTok horizontal: height 0.3164 is 1080x608
A 1080x1920 clip cropped to 16:9 keeps 1080x608, which clears TikTok's 960x540 horizontal minimum but uses a third of the frame. Numbers and request inside.
Content ID on a Short over one minute blocks it globally: keep a cut
YouTube says a video over one minute with an active Content ID claim is blocked globally. Keep a 59-second video-trim cut of every long Short as a fallback.
Kling 3.0 Element Binding: a face close-up, and one still on Sume
Kling says 3.0 Motion Control wants a clear facial close-up for Element Binding. Sume's route takes one still or a ready avatar. What that means for faces.
Kling motion control: 3 s minimum on Kling, 1 s field on Sume
Kling says action videos run 3 to 30 seconds. Sume's duration_seconds accepts 1 to 30. Why to keep the reference at 3 seconds or more, and what it costs.
Bumper and non-skippable ads bill per impression: cut 6, 15, 30 s
Google bills bumper and non-skippable in-stream per impression (Target CPM). Length is a creative call: cut 6, 15, and 30 second versions with video-trim.
Post-production cost for 100 AI clips: trim, caption, upscale
Trim is $0.02, captions $0.20, upscale $0.009 per second. Trim, caption and upscale 100 fifteen-second clips for $35.50 on Sume, then assemble them for $2.50.
Qwen-Image 2.1 subject extraction vs Sume's RMBG 1.0 cutout
Qwen-Image 2.1 lists subject extraction and native RGBA. For a product cutout on Sume, use the RMBG 1.0 background-removal route, which returns PNG with alpha.
TikTok ad creatives prohibit watermarks: sample corner stills first
TikTok's reservation spec prohibits watermarks, TikTok's own included. Pull stills with video-inspect and crop the four corners before a reused clip goes up.
TikTok reservation ads need 2,500 kbps: compute it from the probe
TikTok's auction page asks for 516 kbps, its reservation and TopView pages for 2,500 kbps. Compute the average from video-inspect size and duration first.