Short answer
There is no current wait time to quote: Sora is no longer available through its web or app experience, and the Sora API has also been discontinued. OpenAI lists April 26, 2026, as the discontinuation date for the web and app experiences, and September 24, 2026, for the API. Those dates mean you cannot submit a new Sora generation through those channels now. (help.openai.com)
OpenAI’s discontinuation notice does not give a generation-time estimate. So a claim such as “Sora takes a few minutes” would not be a supported estimate of current performance. The available evidence also does not establish a reliable historical average for a specific version or channel.
Availability by channel
- Sora web and app: discontinued on April 26, 2026.
- Sora API: discontinued on September 24, 2026.
These are separate channels, but both discontinuation dates have passed. OpenAI’s API deprecations documentation explains that a model or endpoint is no longer accessible after its shutdown date. (help.openai.com)
Generation time is not video length
“How long does it take to generate?” asks about elapsed waiting time—from submitting a request until the video is ready. It is different from the video’s playback duration. A clip’s length, such as 10 seconds, does not tell you how many seconds or minutes generation took.
Production takeaway: Sora is not a currently available option for a new production workflow through the discontinued API, and there is no current Sora generation wait time to use for planning. If you are assessing another video model, evaluate its current availability and timing evidence separately; Sora’s former capabilities or clip lengths do not establish that model’s performance.
Sources
What to know about the Sora discontinuation — OpenAI Help Center