Video render priced per minute: 61 seconds bills two minutes

A 61-second Timeline render bills 2 minutes. The rate is $0.10 per output minute, the docs write it as "$0.10 per ceil(output minute)", and the reserve is ceil(audio.duration_seconds / 60). One second past a minute opens the next one.

Descript's changelog moved smoothing to per-second credits. Sume's Timeline render is the opposite shape: whole minutes, rounded up. Source: the Timeline 1.0 docs, read 2026-10-01.

How do 59, 60 and 61 seconds round?

Output length is audio.duration_seconds, so that is the number that rounds.

Where do I see the billed minutes?

Twice. The unbilled plan call returns billable_minutes before you submit (see the Timeline 1.0 docs), and the finished result at GET /v1/jobs/:id/result has billable_minutes too, next to video_url, duration_seconds and segment_count.

Does the output size change the price?

The docs price by output minute, not by resolution. The default output is 1080×1920 MP4, and output.width and output.height accept even integers from 256 to 2160. Only the length is in the rate.

How do I avoid paying for a nearly empty minute?

If a cut lands at 61 seconds, shorten the spine to 60 or less when the last second carries nothing. audio.duration_seconds is required and sets the length, and video coverage may trail the spine by at most 0.5 seconds, so trim the slots with it. For many small edits the cost model differs; Descript credits versus Sume flat job rates compares how each unit is counted.