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. For long PDFs, use the page selector to pick exactly which pages the lecture should cover. The AI uses extracted text to locate relevant pages, then reads those pages visually when needed so diagrams, equations, tables, and handwriting can ground the generated scenes.
• Text files -- Upload .txt, .md, or .csv files.
• Images -- Upload photos, diagrams, or screenshots.
• Google Drive -- Pick files straight from your Drive, no downloading and re-uploading. See Connections.
• Link -- Paste a link to a website or an online PDF.
• 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 -- Free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes and the control stays locked. A completed free lecture's persistent Make this video lecture longer? banner can upgrade and remake it at about 10 minutes in the same video without another creation credit; the original stays playable until the replacement finishes. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes before generating, at every resolution, and the lecture actually fills the length you pick rather than compressing into a short recap. Short mode uses its own short video format and has no length control. See Plans and Limits.
• Video Mode -- Choose how the lecture teaches. Each mode re-teaches your material in its own style, tone, and visual language. Five modes to pick from: Standard (the default — a calm, editorial lecture), Illustrated (a hand-drawn visual story), Short (a fast vertical recap), Manim Math Animation, and Freestyle (the AI picks the look). Every mode is available on every plan. See the full Video Modes guide.
• Video quality -- Choose the resolution your lecture renders at: 720p (the default — crisp and a good balance) or 1080p Full HD (the sharpest, available on paid plans). See Plans and Limits for which qualities your plan can generate.
• AI model -- Auto uses GPT 5.6 Luna on every plan, at low reasoning on Free and high reasoning on a paid plan, so a lecture left on Auto costs one AI creation. Paid users can choose another model when they want a different style, while free users can browse those alternatives with lock badges. Picking GPT 5.6 Sol or Claude Opus 5 costs 3 AI creations instead of 1. See Choosing an AI Model for the full defaults table.
• Customization Profile -- Apply a saved Customization Profile from Custom Instructions to reuse guidance, colors, logos, typography, and visual references across lectures. A selected profile applies to the default Standard lecture as well as the other modes. Profiles work in every creation tool and are available on every plan.
• Language -- Choose the language for narration. Dozens of languages are supported, and the selector uses the same saved account preference as every other AI creation tool. Choose Auto when you want the lecture to match the language of your source material.
• Scholarly logo -- Branding is included by default. Paid plans can turn it off before generating. Watermark-free means generating with the logo turned off and then downloading that file -- downloading cannot strip a logo from a video that was already rendered with one.
• More options -- Three extras sit behind More options in the Appearance section: Dark Mode, which renders every slide on a dark theme; Look, a color theme picker (leave it on Auto to draw a fresh one); and Background music, an optional soft music bed under the narration, off by default. Dark Mode and Look apply to Standard lectures, so they appear when Standard is selected.
• Companion slide deck -- Standard lectures always include one. There is no toggle to turn it on or off.
• 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.

Short lectures often take 10-25 minutes. Long targets can take more than an hour, especially at 1080p, because narration and every video frame still have to be generated and validated. You can track the current status at any time, cancel in-progress generations, or retry failed ones. If an older lecture was built on a model that is no longer offered, retrying re-runs it on your plan's current model instead of asking you to start a new request.

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. Five modes are available: Standard (a calm editorial lecture, the default), Illustrated (a hand-drawn landscape lesson), Short (a vertical short video format), Manim Math Animation (precise animated derivations), and Freestyle (the AI picks the best visual approach for your topic).

Math mode now opens with polished, source-grounded animated scenes when your topic suits one. Topics that do not fit use the regular math-video style instead, so the lecture finishes either way.

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.

Video Quality

You choose the resolution your lecture renders at in the customize step. Higher quality looks sharper but takes a little longer to generate and produces a larger file.

Quality only affects how sharp the picture is — every video, at every resolution, still comes with the same chapters, captions, interactive questions, transcript, and AI chat. Which qualities you can generate depends on your plan; see Plans and Limits for the breakdown.

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.

Companion Slide Deck

Standard lectures come with a companion slide deck, generated alongside the video. Open it in the Slides tab on the video page, or use the three-dot menu and choose Download slide deck to save a copy.

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. At key moments a small, non-intrusive question card slides up at the bottom of the video — playback keeps rolling, you hover or tap to expand it, answer, and the AI gives you instant feedback. You can turn the cards off anytime with the Interactive questions toggle in the panel below the player.

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. You can also create flashcards from the whole video without leaving its page. See the Interactive Video Questions guide for the full breakdown.

Background Music

Background music is an optional toggle under More options in the customize step, off by default. Turn it on for a subtle music bed under the narration — a faint, atmospheric layer rather than something competing with the speaker. The mix keeps the voice front and center, even at lower playback speeds.

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, 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.

Downloading the Video

On a paid plan, open any completed lecture, click the three-dot menu in the top right, and choose Download video. Scholarly downloads the rendered MP4 exactly as it was generated, including its narration and any background music you enabled. For a watermark-free file, turn the Scholarly logo off before you generate -- downloading cannot remove a logo after the fact. Synced captions remain available in Scholarly's player as a separate caption track. On every plan, you can share a public viewing link for free.

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. A longer target length -- or a "go deeper" custom instruction -- gives the lecture room for more examples and connections where the material supports them.

Limits

Free users get 1 lifetime AI creation, shared across video lectures, podcasts, AI Slides, flashcard decks, and other AI tools. It does not reset. Premium includes 10 AI creations each week; Laureate includes 80 each week. Frontier models do not draw on a separate allowance -- a lecture generated with one costs 3 AI creations instead of 1. Every Video Mode is available on every plan; free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes, and their persistent Make Longer banner can replace the same video at about 10 minutes after an upgrade without another creation credit. Choosing a different target before generation remains a paid feature. Paid plans also unlock 1080p Full HD rendering, custom video length up to 45 minutes at every resolution, watermark-free output, and finished MP4 downloads. See Plans and Limits for the full breakdown.