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VivClip

Animate Old Photos With AI

Upload an old portrait and watch the people in it blink, breathe and smile. The effect brings old photos to life while keeping their original colors and grain, so it still feels like the same picture.

Photo

Drop a photo or click to upload

JPG, PNG or WebP · up to 10 MB

Flat scans or straight phone photos of the print, with clear faces, work best.

Examples

Real results from this effect. We made the photos ourselves with AI, so no real people are shown.

  • Photo: A black-and-white 1950s portrait of a seated couple

    A black-and-white 1950s portrait of a seated couple

  • Photo: A sepia 1920s portrait of a man in a flat cap

    A sepia 1920s portrait of a man in a flat cap

  • Photo: A faded 1970s snapshot of a woman in a flower garden

    A faded 1970s snapshot of a woman in a flower garden

How to animate an old photo

  1. Scan or photograph the print

    Use a scanner or take a straight, glare-free phone photo of the print. Save it as a JPG, PNG or WebP up to 10 MB.

  2. Upload and generate

    Drop the photo above, sign in with Google and click Generate. The button shows how many credits the video costs before you start.

  3. Download the video

    Your animated photo is usually ready in about 1–3 minutes. Download the MP4 or find it later in My creations.

Why animate old photos here

  • Gentle, natural motion

    Faces move a little, the way people do while posing for a photo: a blink, a breath, a soft smile. Nothing dramatic or out of character.

  • Keeps the original look

    Black-and-white stays black-and-white, and sepia stays sepia. The effect animates the photo instead of restyling or colorizing it.

  • Nothing to type

    The motion is already set. Upload the photo and generate; you get a 5-second 720p video that keeps the photo’s shape.

Scanning tips for the best result

The clearer the faces, the more natural the motion. A flat scan at a good resolution is ideal; take the photo out of its frame or album sleeve first so the glass or plastic doesn’t add glare. If you photograph a print with your phone, turn off the flash, use soft daylight, hold the phone parallel to the photo and fill the frame. The short side of the image needs to be at least 240 px.

Portraits of one or two adults facing the camera give the most reliable results. Large group photos with tiny faces, heavy scratches over the eyes or strong blur are harder for the AI, and the result may look less natural. You can crop a group photo down to one or two people first. Results vary from one try to the next, so if a face looks wrong, generate again.

Which photos you can use

Use photos of adults: your grandparents’ wedding portrait, a parent’s graduation photo or an old family picture of grown-ups, including relatives who have passed away. Photos of children aren’t allowed, even in old family pictures, and neither are photos of celebrities or public figures. Every photo is checked before generation, and if one is refused, your credits are refunded automatically.

To make the video, your photo is uploaded to our servers and sent to our AI video provider, which makes the video. Videos are kept for 30 days and then deleted, so download any you want to keep. When you share an animated photo of a real person, especially someone who has passed, it’s kind to tell family members it was made with AI.

Frequently asked questions

No. The effect keeps the photo’s original look, so a black-and-white photo stays black and white.

No. Photos that show children aren’t allowed under our usage policy, including old family photos. Crop the photo to the adults if you can.

No. Animated old photos are silent 5-second videos. You can add music in another app before you share it.

Videos made with free credits have a small AI watermark in the corner. Videos made with paid credits have none.

For 30 days. You’ll find them in My creations until then. After that they’re deleted, so download the ones you want to keep.

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