Wan 2.1 (Alibaba): 14B parameters open source, best video model available in early 2025
In one sentence Alibaba/Wanx releases Wan 2.1 on Hugging Face: 14 billion parameters, 720p video up to 81 frames, surpassing all previous open source video models in quality and length.
At the start of 2025, the open source AI video scene had a new champion: Alibaba's Wan 2.1. Available for free on Hugging Face, this model was technically superior to everything available in open source until that point.
Wan 2.1 generates 720p video up to 81 consecutive frames (about 5 seconds at 24fps) with visual quality and temporal coherence comparable to commercial services like Runway or Kling. Anyone with a suitable GPU could download and use it without paying subscriptions.
The release once again demonstrated that the gap between proprietary and open source models in AI video was closing rapidly.
Companies
Alibaba, Wanx
Tools
Wan 2.1, WanVideo
Tags
Sources