What is the environmental impact of an AI-generated video?

Generating a 5-second video with artificial intelligence (AI) emits about 39 gCO2e (grams of CO2 equivalent) with world average electricity, equivalent to driving 280 metres. According to a study published in September 2025, the most downloaded open video generator (also known as an open text-to-video model) uses 90 Wh (watt-hours) of electricity per video, equivalent to 31 AI-generated images or 300 written questions.

A video 2 times as long needs 4 times as much energy. Published measurements range from 0.06 to 180 gCO2e depending on the generator and its settings, a ratio of 1 to 3,000. We found no published measurement from Google, OpenAI or the Chinese video apps for their own services.

1How much energy does an AI-generated video use?

About 39 gCO2e for a 5-second video at 720p

The measurements come from 3 researchers at Hugging Face. In September 2025, they published the energy use of 7 open video generators (generators whose code is public), tested on a data centre graphics card. Their reference model is the most downloaded of them: it uses 90 Wh for a video of 81 frames at 720p (the resolution of an HD screen), a little over 5 seconds long. It is the second most energy-intensive of the 7, while the median model, which produces lower-resolution videos, uses 25 Wh, or 11 gCO2e.

A ratio of 1 to 3,000 depending on the generator and its settings

In the same study, the least energy-intensive generator uses 0.14 Wh, or 0.06 gCO2e, for a video of less than 2 seconds at low resolution, while the most energy-intensive uses 415 Wh, or 180 gCO2e, for 5 seconds at 720p. This ratio of 1 to 3,000 reflects the default settings (duration, resolution, number of computation passes) as much as the generators themselves. The published figures also disagree with one another: for the same model, the IEA puts the graphics card alone at 115 Wh, while the 2025 study measures 22, and nothing explains this difference of 1 to 5.

Equivalent to 31 images or 300 written questions

An AI-generated image uses 2.9 Wh on average, and a written question put to an AI assistant (also called a query) uses 0.3 Wh. The 5-second video is therefore equivalent to 31 images, or 300 questions.

The same video also uses as much electricity as 1 hour 10 minutes of streamed video, screen and network included, based on the 77 Wh per hour that the IEA calculated for 2019. Data centres account for only 5% of that hour: counting the servers alone, generating 5 seconds is equivalent to streaming 23 hours. Our article on the carbon footprint of TikTok covers video viewing.

No measurement published by Google, OpenAI or the Chinese apps

Our searches on 2 October 2026 found no published measurement from Google for Veo, from OpenAI for Sora (shut down in 2026), from Kuaishou for Kling or from Runway. These values therefore describe open models, and nothing indicates whether commercial services do better or worse.

They also come from a single team, Sasha Luccioni's group at Hugging Face, which is behind the measurements picked up by the IEA and by MIT Technology Review. The environmental impact of AI also plays out at the scale of data centres, which per-video measurements do not capture.

2Why an AI-generated video uses so much energy: frames, duration and resolution

Dozens of frames calculated together

A video is a sequence of frames, from 8 to 30 per second for the generators in the 2025 study. The generator calculates the whole sequence in one go, so that objects and movements stay consistent from one frame to the next. Every additional frame therefore enters the calculation for all the others.

A video 2 times as long, 4 times as much energy

The 2025 study measured this on the most downloaded generator: doubling the duration multiplies the energy by about 4. A video 2 times as long (nearly 11 seconds) would therefore emit 160 gCO2e instead of 39. The rule was verified up to 100 frames, or nearly 7 seconds; beyond that, the figures are extrapolations.

From 720p to 1080p, 5 times as much energy

The same rule applies to the number of pixels. Going from 720p to 1080p (full HD) multiplies the number of pixels by 2.25 and the energy by 5, and doubling both height and width multiplies the energy by 16. The number of computation passes (the steps through which the generator refines the image) acts in proportion: dividing the number of passes by 2 divides the energy by 2. The effects of duration, resolution and passes multiply with one another.

3"1 kWh per video" and "4 litres of water": 2 estimates and no measurement

"1 kWh per Sora video": an estimate made without data from OpenAI

The figure has 2 origins. In May 2025, MIT Technology Review published measurements made with Sasha Luccioni on an open model, CogVideoX: 944 Wh for 5 seconds with the newer version, against 30 Wh with the older one. In November 2025, a blog post titled "Every Sora AI video burns 1 Kilowatt hour" estimated that a 10-second video from Sora, OpenAI's generator, uses 0.94 kWh, or 940 Wh, based on an assumption by analysts about computing time.

Neither of these 2 values is a measurement of Sora, whose energy use OpenAI has never published. Extrapolating the rule from the 2025 study beyond what has been verified gives 0.31 kWh at 720p and 1.6 kWh at 1080p for 10 seconds, and the blog post's estimate falls within that range. The service no longer exists: OpenAI announced the shutdown on 24 March 2026 and closed the app on 26 April 2026, according to its help centre.

How much water does an AI-generated video use? Less than half a litre for 5 seconds

No study measures water per video. Applying the method from our article on images, which uses 1.1 litres per kWh to cool the servers and 3.1 litres to produce the electricity, a 5-second video uses 0.1 litre of cooling water and nearly 0.4 litre in total. The November 2025 blog post puts it at a little over 4 litres for 10 seconds, using an almost identical factor. The gap comes from the energy it assumes, which is 3 times higher than the 0.31 kWh in our extrapolation (that value would give 1.3 litres). The scope of these factors is detailed in our article on water consumption by AI.

41 video a day for a year: equivalent to driving 100 km

From 14 to 430 kgCO2e a year depending on use

Generating 1 video of 5 seconds a day for a year emits 14 kgCO2e, equivalent to driving 100 km. At 30 videos a day, the free limit Sora offered in October 2025 (according to Business Insider), the total would reach 430 kgCO2e with our reference figure. That is 5% of the annual carbon footprint of a person in France, or a fifth of a Paris-New York return trip. At the time, the head of the service said that its economics were completely unsustainable. We found no reliable count of videos generated worldwide.

3 ways to emit less

• Shorten the video: dividing the duration by 2 divides the energy by 4.
• Lower the resolution for test runs: 480p needs 5 times less energy than 720p.
• Prepare your prompt (the request you give the generator): each abandoned attempt uses as much energy as the video you keep.

The first of these appears in our ranking of actions that reduce the impact of AI. A company that produces videos with AI can include them in its purchases of digital services, as our guide to AI in the Bilan Carbone® (the French carbon accounting method) explains. Our AI carbon footprint calculator gives a first estimate.

5Key takeaways

• About 39 gCO2e for 5 seconds at 720p, equivalent to driving 280 metres, for the most downloaded open generator.
• From 0.06 to 180 gCO2e depending on the generator and its settings: a ratio of 1 to 3,000.
• A video 2 times as long needs 4 times as much energy; going from 720p to 1080p needs 5 times as much.
• No published measurement exists for commercial services: the "1 kWh per Sora video" is an estimate.

Our articles on AI electricity consumption at world scale, on choosing a more eco-friendly AI and on whether you should boycott AI take these orders of magnitude further.

Further resources

Frequently asked questions

1How much electricity does an AI video use?

A video of a little over 5 seconds at 720p uses about 90 Wh, according to a measurement published in 2025 on the most downloaded open generator. That is nearly 5 phone charges, or 39 gCO2e with world average electricity. The median model in the same study uses 25 Wh, and the 7 models tested range from 0.14 to 415 Wh. We found no measurement published by a commercial service.

2Does a Sora video use 1 kWh?

There is no published measurement: OpenAI has never disclosed how much energy Sora uses, and the service was shut down in April 2026. The figure in circulation comes from a measurement made in 2025 on another generator (944 Wh for 5 seconds) and from a blog post's estimate (0.94 kWh for 10 seconds). Our extrapolation gives 0.31 to 1.6 kWh for 10 seconds, depending on the resolution.

3How much water does it take to generate an AI video?

Less than half a litre for 5 seconds, according to our calculation: about 0.1 litre to cool the servers and nearly 0.4 litre once the water used to produce the electricity is counted. No study measures water per video directly. The 4-litre figure in circulation covers 10 seconds and assumes 3 times more energy than our extrapolation.

4Which AI video generator uses the least energy?

We found no ranking of commercial services, because none has published data. Among 7 open generators tested in 2025, the least energy-intensive uses 3,000 times less energy than the most energy-intensive, but it produces shorter, lower-resolution videos. For a given generator, duration and resolution account for most of the gap.

5Does generating an AI video use more energy than streaming it?

Yes. Generating 5 seconds of video uses as much electricity as watching 1 hour 10 minutes of streamed video, screen and network included: 90 Wh, against 77 Wh per hour watched according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), using its 2019 figure. Counting data centres only, the gap is about 20 times larger.

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