Google Upgrades Veo 3.1 With Vertical Video Creation and Smarter AI Storytelling

Google Adds Vertical Video Support to Veo 3.1 for Shorts and Reels

Google has rolled out a major update to its Veo 3.1 artificial intelligence video generation model, significantly enhancing its capabilities for both short-form and long-form video creation. Announced on Tuesday, the upgrade introduces native vertical video support, stronger prompt understanding, and improved visual consistency.

The update is targeted at creators, developers, and enterprises producing content for platforms such as YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok, and professional video workflows.

Improved “Ingredients to Video” Feature

One of the central upgrades in Veo 3.1 is the enhanced “Ingredients to Video” feature, which enables users to generate videos by combining reference images with text prompts.

Google says the updated model can now produce more consistent characters, backgrounds, and objects across scenes, addressing one of the biggest challenges in AI-generated video storytelling.

Better Results With Shorter Prompts

With Veo 3.1, users no longer need to write long or complex instructions. Even brief prompts can now generate videos with improved storytelling flow, dialogue coherence, and cinematic quality, according to Google.

This enhancement makes the tool more accessible to creators who want fast, high-quality output without extensive prompt engineering.

Better Character and Scene Consistency

A standout improvement in Veo 3.1 is enhanced character continuity.

Google claims that Veo 3.1 ensures a character’s appearance, facial features, and overall look remain consistent throughout a video, even when the setting or narrative direction changes.

Consistency Across Environments and Objects

As per the tech giant, this consistency also applies to backgrounds, textures, and props, which can now be reused across multiple scenes. This allows creators to stitch together clips into longer, more cohesive stories without visual mismatches.

Unified Visual Output

The model is also capable of blending different visual elements into a single, unified video, helping reduce visual fragmentation that often affects AI-generated content.

Native Support for Vertical Videos

One of the most creator-focused upgrades is native support for the 9:16 vertical aspect ratio.

With this update, videos can be generated specifically for vertical platforms, enabling direct uploads to:

• YouTube Shorts

• Instagram Reels

• TikTok

without the need for cropping or resizing.

Google says this feature is designed to simplify workflows for mobile-first creators who primarily publish short-form video content.

Higher Resolution Output Options

Google has also improved overall video quality in Veo 3.1.

H3: Enhanced 1080p and New 4K Upscaling

• Improved 1080p output quality

• Introduction of a 4K upscaling option

These upgrades allow creators to export videos suitable for larger screens and professional production use cases.

Platform Limitations Still Apply

However, not all Google platforms currently support high-resolution exports. Google Vids, for example, does not yet allow exports in 1080p or 4K, despite the model’s enhanced capabilities.

Availability Across Google Platforms

The upgraded “Ingredients to Video” feature is now rolling out across multiple Google services.

Consumer and Creator Access

• YouTube Shorts

• YouTube Create app

• Gemini app

Business and Developer Access

For enterprises and developers, Veo 3.1 is available through:

• Flow app

• Gemini API

• Vertex AI

• Google Vids

Strengthening Google’s Position in AI Video Generation

With native vertical video support, stronger prompt understanding, improved visual consistency, and higher resolution output, Google is positioning Veo 3.1 as a more competitive AI video generation model in a rapidly evolving market dominated by short-form, mobile-first content.

The update reflects Google’s broader push to integrate AI-powered creativity tools across its ecosystem while catering to both casual creators and professional users.