Sora 2 Image Quality Significantly Improved: Actual Comparison Test of Video Clarity After OpenAI’s Computing Power Expansion

Author's Note: January 15, 2026 Test: Sora 2 video clarity has significantly improved – OpenAI appears to have completed computing capacity expansion. This article analyzes the causes of quality changes, technical background, and API best practices.

On January 15, 2026, observation of customer API call data through the APIYI platform revealed that Sora 2's video clarity has shown marked improvement. The "blur-gate" issue that plagued users for weeks appears to be resolved – OpenAI likely completed computing capacity expansion or scheduling optimization behind the scenes.

Core Value: Understand in 3 minutes the full story of Sora 2's quality changes, technical analysis, and how to achieve optimal video generation through API.

Sora 2 Quality Change Timeline

Understanding Sora 2's Quality Recovery

This quality improvement isn't from OpenAI releasing a new version – it's infrastructure-level enhancement. To understand this, we need to first look at Sora 2's "blur-gate" incident.

From late 2025 to early January 2026, tons of overseas users reported Sora 2's video clarity took a "cliff dive." Reddit's OpenAI board was flooded with complaints – users griped that "quality plummeted overnight."

Here's the key: Resolution parameters stayed the same, but visual clarity dropped. This tells us the problem wasn't in output specs – it was in generation quality.

The Technical Reasons Behind Sora 2's Quality Issues

The Difference Between Resolution and Clarity

Many users confuse these two concepts:

Here's an analogy: resolution is the canvas size, while clarity is how fine your brush is. With the same 1080p canvas, when you've got sufficient computing power, you can paint detailed textures; when compute is limited, you can only sketch blurry outlines.

How Does Compute Pressure Affect Quality?

Sora 2's video generation demands massive computational resources. According to OpenAI's estimates:

• Generating 1 ten-second video = consuming GPU resources equivalent to thousands of ChatGPT conversations
• Direct compute cost per video: approximately $0.50 – $2.00

When platform load gets too high, OpenAI likely implemented these measures to maintain service availability:

1. Reduced generation precision: Fewer diffusion model iteration steps
2. Adjusted sampling parameters: Trading detail for speed
3. Load balancing: Routing tasks to non-optimal compute nodes

These measures ensured the service stayed "usable," but sacrificed "quality."

The January 2026 Demand Spike

Quality issues peaked in early January due to several factors:

• Policy changes: Starting January 10, free users couldn't generate videos, causing a rush of users trying to create content before the deadline
• Holiday effects: Surging content creation demand during the New Year period
• Viral spread: Sora 2's popularity continued attracting new users

Actual observation: Through APIYI apiyi.com's API call monitoring, we've noticed that videos generated after January 15 show noticeably clearer detail textures and improved edge sharpness, indicating OpenAI's compute supply has improved.

The Technical Background of OpenAI's Compute Expansion

The Broadcom 10GW Partnership

OpenAI previously signed a massive collaboration agreement with Broadcom to build 10 gigawatts (GW) of custom AI chips and systems. This number's equivalent to:

• The electricity consumption of 8 million American households
• A major city's power usage

This project's expected to begin deployment in the second half of 2026, fundamentally solving bottleneck issues for high-compute applications like Sora 2.

Speculated Short-term Optimizations

Before large-scale infrastructure comes online, OpenAI likely took these short-term measures:

Sora 2 API Best Practices

Currently Available Resolutions

Tips for Getting the Best Clarity

from openai import OpenAI

# Get a stable API calling experience through API Yi
client = OpenAI(
    api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
    base_url="https://vip.apiyi.com/v1"
)

# Prompt techniques for optimizing clarity
response = client.videos.generate(
    model="sora-2",
    prompt="""
    A young woman walking through Tokyo's Shibuya crossing at night,
    neon lights reflecting on wet pavement,
    cinematic lighting, sharp focus, highly detailed,
    in 4K resolution, professional cinematography
    """,
    resolution="1080p",
    duration=10,
    fps=30  # 30fps is smoother than 24fps
)

A golden retriever running on a beach at sunset,
waves splashing, fur details visible,
sharp focus, highly detailed, cinematic lighting,
professional 4K cinematography

Tip: Call the Sora 2 API through API Yi (apiyi.com) – the platform provides stable access and free testing credits to help you quickly verify generation results.

Sora 2 Quality Comparison: Before vs After Improvements

What Should Users Watch Out For?

1. Generation Timing: Early morning North American time (afternoon Beijing time) has lower load, potentially better quality
2. Retry Strategy: If you're not happy with results, try regenerating – quality can vary at different times
3. Prompt Optimization: Adding clarity-related keywords really does work
4. Choose Pro Mode: The sora-2-pro model consistently delivers more stable, high-quality output

FAQ

Summary

Key takeaways about Sora 2's quality recovery:

1. Root cause: Previous quality drops were due to compute constraints, not model versions
2. Current status: Quality noticeably improved starting January 15, 2026 – OpenAI appears to have completed expansion
3. Long-term outlook: The 10GW Broadcom partnership will fundamentally solve compute bottlenecks
4. Best practices: Use clarity keywords, choose low-load time slots, prioritize Pro models

For users who need consistently high-quality output, we recommend accessing Sora 2 API through APIYI apiyi.com. The platform provides professional service quality guarantees and free testing credits.

📚 References

⚠️ Link Format Note: All external links use Resource Name: domain.com format for easy copying but are not clickable, preventing SEO weight loss.

1. OpenAI Official Documentation – Sora 2 Model: API interface specifications and parameter descriptions

   • Link: platform.openai.com/docs/models/sora-2
   • Description: Learn about Sora 2's official technical specifications

2. OpenAI Sora 2 Launch Announcement: Model capabilities and feature introduction

   • Link: openai.com/index/sora-2/
   • Description: Official release information for Sora 2

3. CNN Report – OpenAI Broadcom Computing Power Collaboration: 10GW infrastructure project details

   • Link: cnn.com/2025/10/13/tech/openai-broadcom-power
   • Description: Understanding OpenAI's strategic planning for computing power expansion

4. Skywork AI – Sora 2 Best Practices Guide: Prompt techniques and parameter optimization

   • Link: skywork.ai/blog/sora-2-guide-tested-settings-prompts-for-pro-level-quality/
   • Description: Professional-level Sora 2 usage tips

Author: Technical Team
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