Veo 3.1 update: improved "Ingredients to Video", 9:16 vertical video and 4K upscaling

In one sentence Google updates Veo 3.1: "Ingredients to Video" keeps characters, objects and backgrounds more consistent, generates native 9:16 for the first time and comes to YouTube Shorts; 1080p and 4K upscaling in Flow, the Gemini API and Vertex AI.

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Veo 3.1 is Google DeepMind's video model, launched in mid-October 2025. On January 13, 2026 Google updates one of its key features, "Ingredients to Video": you upload reference images (a character, an object, a background) and the model combines them into a video.

What's new:

more consistency: the same character stays recognizable even as the setting changes, and objects and backgrounds remain stable;
for the first time "Ingredients to Video" generates in native 9:16 vertical format, the format of Shorts, Reels and TikTok;
upscaling to 1080p and 4K, but only in Flow, the Gemini API and Vertex AI.

The feature comes to YouTube Shorts and the YouTube Create app for the first time, as well as to the Gemini app.