ByteDance

How to Create AI Talking Head Videos with OmniHuman

OmniHuman by ByteDance produces the most realistic talking head videos of any AI model on Astorie. Given a single portrait photo and an audio track, it generates video with natural lip sync, subtle facial micro-expressions (eyebrow raises, eye squints, jaw tension), and organic head movement that makes the result nearly indistinguishable from recorded video. It sits at the premium tier of talking head models. The newer OmniHuman v1.5 offers further refinements. Both output at 720p in three aspect ratios (1:1, 16:9, 9:16). If realism is your priority — for executive presentations, keynote addresses, flagship marketing, or professional courses — OmniHuman is the clear choice over the lighter Kling LipSync or the high-volume Pixverse Lipsync.

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Step-by-Step Guide

Prepare a portrait optimized for maximum realism

The portrait photo quality directly determines the output quality — more so than with Kling LipSync or Pixverse, because OmniHuman's advanced facial animation exposes any source image imperfections. Use a front-facing, well-lit photo with a neutral, closed-mouth expression and the subject looking at or near the camera. Avoid: side profiles (the model can't infer the hidden side of the face), heavy shadows (creates inconsistent lighting in the animation), sunglasses (blocks eye animation), hands near the face (creates occlusion artifacts). Professional headshot-style photos produce the best results. Minimum resolution: 512×512 pixels on the face area. For AI-generated portraits, verify there are no artifacts around the mouth, eyes, or jawline before feeding to OmniHuman.

Generate or upload broadcast-quality audio

The audio track drives everything in OmniHuman — lip movements, facial expressions, head motion, and even blink timing all follow the speech rhythm and emotional tone. Audio quality has more impact on the final result than the portrait. For generated speech, use ElevenLabs v3 (best English expressiveness, 21 voices) or Minimax Speech 2.5 HD (best Chinese tonal accuracy, 17 voices). For uploaded recordings, ensure single-speaker audio with minimal background noise, recorded at 44.1kHz or higher. Speaking pace matters: moderate speed (130-160 WPM) produces the most natural lip sync. Fast speech causes the model to rush through phonemes; slow speech can create unnaturally long pauses between lip movements.

Connect portrait + audio to OmniHuman on the canvas

Add an Image node (portrait), an Audio node (speech), and connect both to a Video node with OmniHuman selected. The model synthesizes natural head movement, blinking, brow raises, and lip sync automatically from the audio waveform — there is no text prompt and no configurable parameters. This zero-parameter design means the result is entirely determined by your two inputs. OmniHuman outputs at 720p in 1:1, 16:9, or 9:16 aspect ratios. Choose 9:16 for social media (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts), 16:9 for presentations and web embeds, and 1:1 for profile videos and LinkedIn posts. Render time scales linearly with audio duration, so longer narrations take proportionally longer to generate.

Scale across languages with the TTS → OmniHuman pipeline

The portrait + audio architecture shines at multilingual scale. Generate TTS audio tracks in English (ElevenLabs), Chinese (Minimax Speech), Spanish, Japanese, etc., and feed each audio track to OmniHuman with the same portrait. The character's face stays identical across all languages — only the lip movements and head gestures change to match the new audio's rhythm and tone. Place parallel OmniHuman Video nodes on the Astorie canvas for simultaneous generation across languages. For high-volume localization where ultra-realism is not required, Kling LipSync or Pixverse Lipsync render dramatically faster per clip — at the cost of visibly lower realism.

Parameter Tips

OmniHuman is audio-driven with zero configurable parameters. Your two inputs — portrait quality and audio clarity — are the only controls. Budget 80% of your preparation time on getting these right; the model handles everything else.

Front-facing portraits with neutral, closed-mouth expressions produce dramatically better results than angled or expressive starting photos. The model synthesizes its own natural expressions from the audio — an already-expressive portrait fights against the model's animation.

Render time scales linearly with audio duration. For projects where you want to iterate quickly, draft scripts and test audio pacing with Pixverse Lipsync first, then generate the final approved version with OmniHuman.

OmniHuman v1.5 adds subtle improvements in eye movement naturalness and micro-expression variety. Use v1.5 for high-stakes content (investor pitches, keynotes) where these subtle details matter; standard OmniHuman is sufficient for training videos and tutorials.

What to Expect

OmniHuman produces the most realistic talking head videos available on Astorie — lip sync accuracy, natural head sway, blink timing, and facial micro-expressions are state-of-the-art. It is the premium option. The three-tier talking head system: OmniHuman for maximum realism on flagship content (investor pitches, keynotes, hero marketing videos), Kling LipSync as the per-job tier for professional content where quality matters and you want predictable per-clip render time, and Pixverse Lipsync as the per-second tier for high-volume batch production (daily social media, educational series, multi-language localization). OmniHuman's specific advantages over Kling: more natural eye movement, richer micro-expressions, and better handling of emotional speech. Its limitation: 720p maximum resolution, while Kling outputs at higher resolutions.

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Try Other Models for This Task

Kling

Kling LipSync

Kling LipSync brings Kling's industry-leading human motion engine to audio-driven talking head generation, producing smooth, natural lip movements and facial expressions that rival OmniHuman with a lighter render. It charges per job rather than per second of audio, so render time stays predictable regardless of clip length — placing it in the middle tier between OmniHuman's premium quality and Pixverse Lipsync's per-second high-volume model. The architecture advantage: Kling LipSync is powered by the same engine that makes Kling 3.0 the best video model for human motion, meaning jaw movement, cheek deformation, and chin motion are anatomically accurate rather than approximated.

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Lipsync

Pixverse Lipsync

Pixverse Lipsync is the speed champion for talking head videos — billed per second of output, it makes high-volume production fast at any scale. For very short clips, Pixverse can finish faster than Kling LipSync's per-job model; for longer clips, Kling becomes the more efficient choice. The quality trade-off is real: Pixverse produces lip movements that look "good enough" for social media and web content, but lack the anatomical precision of Kling or the ultra-realism of OmniHuman. If you need 10+ talking head clips for a content series, educational course, or multi-language localization, Pixverse is the only model that scales without compounding render time per clip.