Six months after notice, the company’s deprecation table still lists no replacement.
OpenAI is taking its Videos API and Sora 2 video generation models off the developer platform on Sept. 24, 2026.
That’s the date on the company’s own deprecations page. The cutoff is not a single model name. It covers the Videos API and the aliases and snapshots listed as sora-2, sora-2-pro, sora-2-2025-10-06, sora-2-2025-12-08 and sora-2-pro-2025-10-06.
The recommended replacement column is empty. Every row ends in a dash.
OpenAI’s video generation guide puts the same list in one sentence: “The Sora 2 video generation models and Videos API are deprecated and will shut down on September 24, 2026. This affects Videos API, sora-2, sora-2-pro, sora-2-2025-10-06, sora-2-2025-12-08, and sora-2-pro-2025-10-06.”
Developers who still have those calls in production don’t have an in-house swap sitting on that table. That absence is the operational fact.
Notice went out March 24. The deprecations page says: “On March 24th, 2026, we notified developers using the Videos API and Sora 2 video generation model aliases and snapshots of their deprecation and removal from the API on September 24, 2026.”
March to September is six months. That lines up with the company’s stated floor for generally available models.
OpenAI describes the process in plain terms. “As we launch safer and more capable models, we regularly retire older models.” Software that depends on those models, it adds, “may need occasional updates to keep working.” Impacted customers, the page says, “will always be notified by email and in our documentation along with blog posts for larger changes.”
The vocabulary is specific. “We use the term ‘deprecation’ to refer to the process of retiring a model or endpoint. When we announce that a model or endpoint is being deprecated, it immediately becomes deprecated. All deprecated models and endpoints will also have a shut down date. At the time of the shut down, the model or endpoint will no longer be accessible.”
Sunset and shut down mean the same thing here. Legacy is the earlier signal. A legacy tag means the company has stopped updating the surface and expects a later deprecation.
The consumer product already went dark. OpenAI’s help center states: “The Sora web and app experiences were discontinued on April 26, 2026.” Separately: “The Sora API will be discontinued on September 24, 2026.”
Same company. Two clocks. App and site first. API later.
On exports, the help article is direct. “We recommend you export your Sora content as soon as possible.” Users can request an export at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset. OpenAI says it will email when the file is ready. After any final export window, “we will permanently delete any data associated with your use of Sora.”
Purchased ChatGPT/Sora credits, the help page notes, can still be used for Codex.
For executives, the decision is not whether the date is real. It is. The question is what still depends on /videos and those model IDs after today.
OpenAI leaves one narrow door. “In some cases, developers may be able to provision dedicated capacity for continued access after a model’s shutdown date.” The page points that conversation to sales.
That is not a public successor ID. It is a sales conversation, if one exists at all for this surface.
The Videos API reference already marks the endpoints deprecated: create, list, retrieve, delete, download, edits, extensions, remix, characters. The model field still names sora-2, sora-2-pro and the dated snapshots. Those IDs are the ones on the shutdown table.
OpenAI’s notice policy is written for planning, not surprise. Generally available models get at least six months. Specialized variants get at least three. Preview models can go with far less. Safety or compliance, the company says, can shorten any of that, with “as much notice as reasonably possible.”
This retirement used the six-month track. The notification date and the shutdown date are both on the record.
What the documentation does not do is name the next OpenAI video endpoint. Teams that treated Sora 2 as a permanent platform feature now have a continuity problem that is not solved by renaming a model string.
Inventory the calls. Confirm whether any vendor in the middle is still proxying the same upstream IDs. Decide whether video generation stays in the product. If it does, the replacement is outside this table.
The page that matters is still the deprecations list. It is dated, specific, and silent where a successor would normally sit.