Whisper

Whisper Transcription is available in the Business API catalog.

openai/whisper/transcription

Capabilities

Best for

•Voiceover and narration
•Sound design beds
•Quick music sketches

Not for

•Real-time streaming synthesis
•Studio mastering
•Forensic audio

Authentication

api key header

The Pika API uses API keys to authenticate requests. Send your key in the X-API-Key header. Your API key is a secret. Don't expose it in browsers or other client-side code. Instead, call the API from your server. The signed-in playground uses a portal session and never sends your API key.

header

X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY

Endpoint

asynchronous · poll for the result

POSThttps://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/openai/whisper/transcriptiongenerate endpoint

GEThttps://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/jobs/{request_id}poll until completed

GEThttps://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/jobs/{request_id}/contentget the result URL

Reference Uploads

media inputs

Media inputs accept any public URL. To use a local file, POST its content_type and size_bytes to /v1/media/uploads, PUT the file to the returned upload_url, then pass the url.

upload

# 1. Request a presigned upload URL. Send the file's content
#    type and its exact size in bytes.
curl -X POST https://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/uploads \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"content_type": "image/png", "size_bytes": 12345}'

# The response returns two URLs:
#   upload_url: a temporary URL to upload the file to. Expires in 5 minutes.
#   url:        the permanent Pika URL. Pass it to the model as the input.
# {
#   "upload_url": "https://upload.r2.pika.art/...?X-Amz-Signature=...",
#   "url": "https://cdn.pika.art/v2/media/uploads/org_abc/9f8e7d.png"
# }

# 2. Upload the file to upload_url, then pass url to the model.
curl -X PUT "<upload_url>" \
  -H "Content-Type: image/png" \
  --data-binary @input.png

Generate

POST /v1/media/openai/whisper/transcription

Request

curl -X POST https://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/openai/whisper/transcription \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "audio_url": "https://cdn.pika.art/v2/files/agent/f7d0b17c-0c8c-4b52-a42d-a6499ffaa5f7/f40e5fd8cfd60b3e57594824d368f48398b8107faf6a2f518cf8d0591f6878aa",
  "duration_seconds": 11.6
}'

Response

{
  "id": "media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0",
  "status": "queued"
}

Request body

audio_urlstringrequired

Audio Url

duration_secondsnumber0.1 – 3600required

Duration Seconds

languagestring

Language

promptstring

Prompt

response_formatenum

Response Format

Accepted values

response_format

Input modes

Audio urlaudio_url

Use a public URL directly, or POST { content_type, size_bytes } to /v1/media/uploads, PUT the audio to the returned upload_url with the returned headers, then pass the url.

Returns

Returns a job object with status , not the final output. Store the id from the response and poll the job until it completes.

Poll status

GET /v1/media/jobs/{request_id}

Request

curl https://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/jobs/{request_id} \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Response

{
  "id": "media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0",
  "status": "running"
}

Poll the job by id until it reaches a terminal state: completed or failed.

The job object

idstring

Unique identifier for the job.

statusenum

The status of the job.One of:

object

The generation output. Present once the job completes.

errorstring

If the job failed, the reason for the failure.

Get result

GET /v1/media/jobs/{request_id}/content

Request

curl https://api.dev.pika.art/v1/media/jobs/{request_id}/content \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Response

{
  "url": "https://api.dev.pika.art/v1/files/audio_8f3a2c91.mp3"
}

Once the job completes, fetch a download URL for the generated media.

Returns

urlstring

Download URL for the generated file.

Errors

shared across calls

Errors use conventional HTTP status codes with a JSON body of the shape {"message": "..."}. Validation failures return 422 with a message naming the offending field. Submit rejections after the job row exists (balance, rate limit) return the failed job envelope — branch on error.code.

Status	When	Body
401 Unauthorized	The API key is missing or invalid.	{"message":"Invalid API key"}
403 Forbidden	An inactive key is rejected with a `{"message"}` body. A submit that the org balance or postpaid cycle limit cannot cover is rejected after the job row exists and returns the failed job envelope.	{"id":"media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0","status":"failed","error":{"code":"insufficient_balance","message":"Insufficient org balance"}}
404 Not Found	No job with that id exists in your org, or the media path names an unknown vendor/model/function.	{"message":"media job not found"}
409 Conflict	The result was requested before the job completed, or an Idempotency-Key header was reused with a different body.	{"message":"media job is not ready"}
422 Unprocessable Entity	The request body failed validation: an invalid enum value, a missing required field, a wrong type, or malformed JSON. The JSON message names the offending field. A schema-valid parameter combination that cannot be priced instead fails after job creation and returns the failed job envelope with error code `invalid_input`.	{"message":"duration: Input should be less than or equal to 15"}
429 Too Many Requests	Org limit reached: requests per minute or day, or concurrent jobs. Returned as the failed job envelope; check the Retry-After header and retry with a fresh Idempotency-Key.	{"id":"media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0","status":"failed","error":{"code":"rate_limited","message":"rate limit exceeded: rpm"}}
503 Service Unavailable	The model rail or a backend dependency is temporarily unavailable. Returned as the failed job envelope; retry with backoff and a fresh Idempotency-Key.	{"id":"media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0","status":"failed","error":{"code":"provider_unavailable","message":"media dispatch unavailable"}}

Pricing

only successful runs are charged

Tier	Price
default	$0.007 / minute

Per-model pricing

Transparent, usage-based rates for every OpenAI model.

Model	Type	Resolution	Price
GPT Image 2 Image	Image to Image	Image output	$30 / 1M tok
		Input	$5 / 1M tok
		Image input	$8 / 1M tok
	Text to Image	Image output	$22.50 / 1M tok
	Text to Image	Input	$3.75 / 1M tok
Whisper Audio • Transcription	Current	—	$0.007 / min
GPT-5.6 Sol LLM		Input	$5 / 1M tok
		Output	$30 / 1M tok
		Cached input	$0.50 / 1M tok
OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra LLM		Input	$2 / 1M tok
		Output	$12 / 1M tok
		Cached input	$0.20 / 1M tok
OpenAI GPT-5.6 Luna LLM		Input	$0.20 / 1M tok
		Output	$1.20 / 1M tok
		Cached input	$0.02 / 1M tok
GPT-5.5 LLM		Input	$2.50 / 1M tok
		Output	$15 / 1M tok
		Cached input	$0.25 / 1M tok

GPT Image 2

Image

Image to Image

Image output$30 / 1M tok

Input$5 / 1M tok

Image input$8 / 1M tok

Text to Image

Image output$22.50 / 1M tok

Input$3.75 / 1M tok

WhisperCurrent

Audio • Transcription

$0.007 / min

GPT-5.6 Sol

LLM

Input$5 / 1M tok

Output$30 / 1M tok

Cached input$0.50 / 1M tok

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra

LLM

Input$2 / 1M tok

Output$12 / 1M tok

Cached input$0.20 / 1M tok

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Luna

LLM

Input$0.20 / 1M tok

Output$1.20 / 1M tok

Cached input$0.02 / 1M tok

GPT-5.5

LLM

Input$2.50 / 1M tok

Output$15 / 1M tok

Cached input$0.25 / 1M tok

Whisper

Capabilities

Authentication

Endpoint

Reference Uploads

Generate

Poll status

Get result

Errors

Pricing

Per-model pricing

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