AI Video Lectures

Scholarly can turn your study materials into fully narrated, animated video lectures. Upload PDFs, text files, images, or just describe a topic -- and the platform generates a video with animated scenes, illustrations, charts, and voice narration, complete with chapters, a transcript, and AI chat.

Creating a Video Lecture

Video lecture creation is a two-step process.

Step 1 -- Pick your content. Choose your source material:

• PDFs -- Select up to 3 PDFs from your library or upload new files.
• Text files -- Upload .txt, .md, or .csv files.
• Images -- Upload photos, diagrams, or screenshots.
• Prompt -- Use the Prompt tab to describe any topic and generate a video from scratch, no files needed.

Step 2 -- Customize settings. Before generating, you can configure:

• Length tier -- Choose how long and deep the lecture should be:
  • Quick Recap (~30 seconds) -- A fast, single-idea recap. Perfect for last-minute review or a quick refresher on one concept. Free on every plan.
  • Standard (5--7 minutes) -- A full lecture with real depth -- room to cover the key ideas, walk through a worked example, and land a clear conclusion. Best when learning something new. Premium.
  • Deep Dive (10--12 minutes) -- Thorough, exam-ready coverage with additional examples, edge cases, and step-by-step reasoning. The AI researches your source material more deeply before writing the script, so a Deep Dive is more thorough from the start -- not just a longer version of the same lecture. Premium.
• Video Mode -- Choose how the lecture teaches. Each mode re-teaches your material in its own style, tone, and visual language -- Standard, TL;DR, Math, Storybook, Kids, Debate, Case Study, or Podcast. Standard and TL;DR are free; the rest are premium. See the full Video Modes guide.
• AI model -- Pick which AI model generates your video. Different models produce different voices and styles. See Choosing an AI Model for guidance.
• Language -- Choose the language for narration. Over 27 languages are supported.
• Custom instructions -- Add free-text instructions to steer the lecture: emphasize certain chapters, explain for a visual learner, focus on key formulas or common mistakes, and more.

Once you confirm, generation begins. You can close the modal and come back later -- you will receive a notification when the video is ready.

Voice Preference

Video lectures use your preferred AI voice (male or female) from Settings. Change your preference in Settings and all future videos will use that voice.

Generation Progress

Video lectures go through several stages:

1. Pending -- Queued for processing.
2. Processing -- The AI reads your source material, writes a narrated script, generates animated scenes and illustrations, and produces voice narration.
3. Completed -- Ready to watch.
4. Failed -- Can be retried from the video page.

Generation typically takes 10-25 minutes depending on the complexity and length of your source material. You can track the current status at any time, cancel in-progress generations, or retry failed ones.

Video Modes

Every lecture is generated in a Video Mode -- the teaching style that shapes how your material is explained and how the video looks. Standard is the calm, editorial default; TL;DR is fast and dense; and premium plans unlock Math (animated whiteboard derivations), Storybook (narrative and illustrated), Kids (bright and playful), Debate (two perspectives side by side), Case Study (situation to outcome), and Podcast (a two-host visual conversation).

Picking the right mode is often a bigger improvement than rewording the prompt. See the full Video Modes guide to choose the best fit for your subject.

Scenes and Visuals

Each video is composed of multiple scenes. The AI picks the scene type that best fits what's being explained:

• Definitions -- A term on screen, written like a textbook entry, with the explanation building up alongside it.
• Comparisons -- Two ideas side by side with their differences highlighted.
• Step-by-step processes -- Numbered stages that animate in as the narrator walks through each one.
• Equations -- Math rendered with proper typography so symbols, fractions, integrals, and superscripts read cleanly.
• Stats and figures -- Animated count-ups for big numbers and key statistics.
• Charts -- Bar charts, line graphs, and pie charts drawn live as the narrator describes the data.
• Key-insight callouts -- Short, emphasized takeaways for the most important moments in the lecture.
• AI-generated illustrations -- Custom imagery for concepts that benefit from a visual.

The visual style itself is designed to feel like a beautifully laid-out textbook in motion -- warm paper background, serif headlines, clean diagrams, and gentle animation. Narration is paired with natural-sounding AI text-to-speech in the language and voice you picked.

Chapters and Transcript

Videos include chapter markers so you can jump to specific sections. A full transcript of the narration is available on every completed video, with search support so you can quickly find specific moments or topics.

Captions

Every completed video lecture ships with synced captions. Use your video player's caption controls to turn them on — they follow the narration line by line so you can read along while you watch, or study with the sound off entirely.

Captions match the language you generated the lecture in, so a Spanish lecture comes with Spanish captions out of the box. See Captions for Podcasts and Videos for the full guide.

Interactive Questions

Every video lecture comes with built-in checkpoints. The player pauses at key moments and asks a question about what you just watched -- a quick active-recall break that turns passive watching into real practice.

You can turn auto-pause on or off in the player settings, review every checkpoint after the fact, and turn any checkpoint into a flashcard deck or quiz. Each full pass through the questions is saved, so you can see your Best and Last scores at a glance and open your full attempt history right next to the questions list. See the Interactive Video Questions guide for the full breakdown.

Creating from an Upload

You can also create a video lecture when you upload files. Add your files, open the More menu, and choose Create Video Lecture. A customization panel lets you pick a length tier, a video mode, an AI model, the language, and custom instructions before generating.

Creating from AI Chat

You can create video lectures directly from the AI chat. Say something like "create a video lecture about thermodynamics" or "turn this into a video lecture" and the AI generates it for you. When the video is ready, it plays inline in the conversation.

AI Chat

Every completed video lecture has a dedicated AI chat panel. Ask questions about the video content, request clarification on a topic, or explore related ideas. The AI uses the video transcript and your original source materials to give grounded answers.

Flashcards

Generate flashcards directly from completed video lectures. Open the flashcard creator from the video page to turn key concepts into study cards.

Sharing

Share any video lecture with a link. Recipients can watch the video, read the transcript, and browse chapters without needing to create an account.

Research Depth

Before writing the script, the AI actively researches your source material -- rereading key sections, pulling out real examples, and finding the most citation-worthy passages. Longer video lengths get more research passes, which is why a Long lecture feels noticeably more thorough than a Short one on the same source.

Limits

Free users can generate up to 3 AI creations per day, shared across video lectures, podcasts, AI Slides, recordings, flashcard decks, and deck-wide AI edits. On the free plan, video lectures generate at the Quick Recap length in the Standard or TL;DR mode. The longer Standard and Deep Dive length tiers and the six premium modes are unlocked with a paid plan, which also removes the daily creation limit. See Plans and Limits for the full breakdown.