Marking the 1st anniversary of the Chinese video generation tool, Kling AI, its parent company, Kuaishou, has launched their most advanced model yet – Kling 2.1. After the success of Kling 1.6 and 2.0, users and creators have been waiting for the release of Kling AI’s next big thing, and it’s finally here. With advanced video generation capabilities and better coherence and rendering skills, Kling 2.1 stands as a formidable contender in the AI video generation arena against proprietary models such as Google’s Veo 3 and OpenAI’s Sora. In this article, we’ll explore the features and video generation capabilities of Kling 2.1 and see how well it performs against Veo 3.
Table of Contents
What Is Kling 2.1?
Kling 2.1 is an advanced AI-powered video generation model developed by Kuaishou. It transforms reference images and text prompts into high-definition, cinematic videos, leveraging sophisticated technologies like 3D spatiotemporal attention mechanisms and diffusion transformer architectures. Designed to simulate real-world physics and intricate motion dynamics, Kling 2.1 aims to deliver videos that are both visually stunning and contextually coherent. Building upon its predecessor, Kling 2.0, this latest iteration introduces enhancements that cater to both beginners as well as seasoned professionals.
Features of Kling 2.1
Here are some of the key features of Kling 2.1:
- Frame-based Video Generation: As opposed to most video generation models that focus on text-to-video generation, Kling 2.1 generates videos based on input images as reference frames.
- Realistic Motion and Physics Simulation: Utilizing a 3D spatiotemporal joint attention mechanism, Kling 2.1 accurately models complex movements, ensuring that generated videos adhere to the laws of physics and exhibit natural motion.
- Dynamic Facial Expressions: The model excels in generating life-like facial expressions and accurate movements, enhancing the realism of characters and making them more engaging.
- Multiple Video Options: Kling 2.1 offers creating multiple videos from the same prompt, giving users more freedom and choice, without the need for multiple iterations.
- AI-powered Prompting: For those who find it difficult to write detailed and accurate prompts for video generation, the model offers a DeepSeek-powered AI tool for generating prompts.
Also Read: 10 Amazing Video Generation Tools You Need to Check Out Today!
How to Access Kling 2.1
Kling 2.1 and its Master version are both available on the Kling AI website and app. Users around the world can sign up with just an email ID, and try out the models directly for image-to-video generation, using the free credits given during sign up. Note that these models can only be used for image-to-video generation, as of now.
How to Use Kling 2.1
Here’s how you can generate videos from images using Kling 2.1 and Kling 2.1 Master:
- Select the Model on Kling AI
Once you open the website, select Kling 2.1 (or Kling 2.1 Master) from the model selection drop-down menu on top.
- Upload Reference Images
Under the image-to-video tab, select ‘Frames’ and upload a reference image to be used as the starting frame or end frame of the generated video. Please note that the Elements feature is currently not supported by Kline 2.1.
- Add a Prompt
You have the option of adding a prompt to describe the video or a negative prompt explaining what you would not want in the video. You can even use DeepSeek to generate detailed prompts for you based on your description, theme, or thought.
- Configure the Properties
Once you have the reference image and prompts (optional) in place, choose if you want a standard or professional (for VIP users) video. Then decide on the length of the video (5 or 10 seconds) and the number of outputs you would like to generate (upto 4). Please note that only VIP users have the option of generating multiple videos from a single image/prompt.
- Generate the Video
Now that you’re all set, simply click on ‘Generate’ and wait in line for the model to generate your video. In the free version, this might take up to 120 minutes.
- Generate Sound (optional)
Once the video is generated, Kling gives you the option of adding sound to it using their sound generation tool. You can add your prompt here and generate 4 different sounds and dialogues to match the scene. However, please note that the tool only generates audio in Chinese for now and does not automatically lip sync with the video.
Video Generation Capabilities of Kling 2.1
Users have taken to social media, praising Kling 2.1’s ability to produce videos with realistic motion and expressive characters. Let’s check out a few of the videos generated by Kling 2.1 from different image prompts, to see how good this tool really is.
1. Hyper-realistic Human Video
Input Image:
Prompt: “A woman is dancing to fast-paced music.”
Output:
Source: Kling AI Library
2. Animated Gaming Video
Input Image:
Description: “car in the city racing, 4K ultra realistic high-octane chase. Smooth movement, photorealistic, high quality.”
DeepSeek-generated Prompt: “A sleek hover-car weaving between towering holographic billboards, blue plasma thrusters igniting, cityscape reflecting off its chrome body, 4K ultra realistic, dynamic motion”
Output:
Source: Kling AI Library
3. Dynamic Action Video
Input Image:
Prompt: “Cinematic action shot in the style of an action movie with a drone racing through a forest woodland at noon, navigating between trees. Sunlight streaking through leaves, close front follow angle, dynamic movement, high contrast, intense atmosphere, detailed composition.”
Negative Prompt: “morphing, erratic fluctuation in motion, noisy, bad quality, distorted, poorly drawn, blurry, grainy, low resolution, oversaturated, lack of detail, inconsistent lighting. Wrong anatomy, unnatural facial expressions, unnatural movements, blur, warp, distortion, disfigurement, pixelation, noisy, grainy, overly bright colors, harsh shadows, oversaturated colors, erratic fluctuation, artefacts, glitch, low quality, bad face, transition, morphing, titles, texts, logos, Cartoonish features.”
Output:
Source: Kling AI Library
Kling 2.1 vs Veo 3 vs Sora: Features Comparison
Speaking of advanced video generation, we must find out how good this free tool is as compared to proprietary models like Google’s Veo 3 and OpenAI’s Sora. Here’s a standard comparison of the features of all three video generation models.
| Feature | Kling 2.1 | Veo 3 | Sora |
| Max Video Length | 3 minutes | 1 minute | 1 minute |
| Resolution | 1080p | 1080p | 1080p |
| Lip-Sync Capability | No | Yes | No |
| Physics Simulation | Yes | Yes | No |
| Aspect Ratio Flexibility | Low | Moderate | Low |
| Editing Tools | Basic | Basic | Basic |
| Access Availability | Global (Beta) | Limited (US only) | Limited |
Kling 2.1 vs Veo 3: Performance Comparison
Now, let’s compare the performance of the two models we currently have access to: Kling 2.1 and Veo 3.
Here’s a video I found online, which was generated using Veo 3.
I’ll use a screenshot of this video as the first frame reference image, add a prompt describing the scene, and see what Kling 2.1 does with it.
Input Image:
Prompt: “An American man wearing a blue t-shirt is at the boarding counter at the airport with his pet penguin. The airline staff, lady dressed in blue, does not let him take the penguin on board. He’s frustrated as she tries to explain the situation to him.”
Video Generated by Kling 2.1
Now let’s use Kling 2.1 to add audio to the generated video.
Comparative Analysis
Veo 3 generated a very realistic video with great detailing, appropriate expressions, and very well lip-synced audio. Even the flow of the movement and the clarity and tone of the dialogues were top notch. On the whole, this is one of the best AI tools I’ve ever come across for video generation.
Kling 2.1 is exceptionally good at recreating videos from reference frames, as seen above. It generated pretty realistic people and animals with accurate expressions and details. As a free tool, it does a better job than most others. However, when it comes to generating audio and syncing it, Kling 2.1 is rather disappointing. Be it the tone or the timing, it simply doesn’t align with the video. So that’s something I think the tool still needs to work on.
Conclusion
Kling 2.1 proves to be a promising model in the AI-powered video generation landscape. Its easy-to-use interface, quality of creating coherent videos, and ability to add audio to it, make it one of the best free-to-use AI video generators out there. Its capabilities in realistic motion simulation, facial expression rendering, and creative artistry take it a step ahead of most of its contemporaries. That being said, the model still has room for improvement when it comes to generating audio and accurately lip syncing. So, here’s looking forward to Kling AI’s next version that’ll probably fix these issues as well.
Sabreena is a GenAI enthusiast and tech editor who's passionate about documenting the latest advancements that shape the world. She's currently exploring the world of AI and Data Science as the Manager of Content & Growth at Analytics Vidhya.
