Kling 4.0 explained: 30-second AI video, 4K, keyframes and Omni Reference

Picture a small agency asked for a 30-second product spot for a new running shoe. The client wants the same runner in every shot, the shoe to look exactly like the sample, a voiceover in English and Spanish, and cut-downs for Instagram and a cinema pre-roll. With most AI video tools, that brief turns into a pile of short clips stitched together, with the shoe changing shape between them. Kling 4.0 is aimed squarely at that problem.

Kling unveiled Kling 4.0 on September 28, 2026, with a launch film on its YouTube channel. The full model launches in October; a faster version, Kling 4.0 Flash, opened that day to a limited group of users for early access. Kling says the release focuses on visual realism, creative control and narrative completeness, with upgrades to audio, multi-keyframe control, lip-sync, on-screen text and what it calls creative recreation. ¹³

Kling released an official launch film alongside the announcement. It plays below in our player, so nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.

When you can use Kling 4.0, and what Flash is

The release happens in stages, and it matters which stage you are planning around. Only Kling 4.0 Flash was open on launch day, and only to a limited early-access group. The full Kling 4.0 model follows in October. Two headline features, 10-bit HDR output and video extension up to two minutes, are described by Kling as coming soon rather than launching with the model. ¹

Kling describes Flash as built for frequent creation, combining fast generation with good value. In practice it is the drafting tool: shorter clips, lower resolution and fewer control options than the full model, but quick enough to test an idea before spending time and credits on a final render. ¹

What changed from Kling 3.0

The clearest change is length. Kling 3.0 generates between 3 and 15 seconds in one go; Kling 4.0 doubles that ceiling to 30 seconds, and Flash sits between them at 20. A single 30-second generation can hold a complete ad beat or a long take without stitching clips together, which is where continuity usually breaks. ¹²

Kling 3.0 already introduced the building blocks: native audio, multi-shot sequences and elements, which are saved characters or objects the model keeps consistent. It could build a character from a short video and give it a voice. Kling 4.0 widens every one of those inputs and adds finer control over where the story goes between the first and last frame. ²

Omni Reference: 15 inputs, and how the limits interact

Omni Reference is Kling's name for guiding a generation with your own material rather than words alone. Kling 4.0 accepts up to 15 reference items in a single generation, combining images, videos and subjects. A subject is a saved character, product or object, and it can carry a specified voice. Audio references are for voice only. ¹

The limits overlap on purpose. Ten images, seven subjects and five videos add up to 22, but one generation takes 15 at most, so a heavy brief means choosing. For the running shoe, that might be three product angles, one runner saved as a subject with a voice, two location photos and one reference video for the camera move, leaving room to spare. ¹

Image references can do more than show a face. Kling lists three-view character sheets, image grids, infographics, keyframes and wireframes as ways to set layout, style, on-screen graphics and story beats. Video references can guide a performance, an action, a camera move or the pacing of a scene, and Kling accepts white-model videos, meaning rough grey 3D blocking, and depth-map videos for tighter control of motion and timing. ¹

The feature Kling promotes hardest is creative recreation: borrowing the pacing, shot composition and look of an existing video while replacing the product, characters or other assets. Kling pitches it for social media, product advertising, fashion and beauty, and consumer electronics. That is genuinely useful when the reference is your own past ad or footage you have the rights to. Using a competitor's ad or someone else's film as the template raises copyright and brand questions that the software will not answer for you. ¹

Keyframes, 30-second takes and longer prompts

A keyframe is a picture of a moment the video must hit. Kling 4.0 accepts up to 10 keyframe images, so you can fix the opening shot, the moment the runner laces the shoe, the product close-up and the final frame with room for a logo, and let the model fill in the motion between them. Kling says this lets you specify character states, scene changes and story beats precisely. ¹

Prompts can now run up to 8,000 tokens, which is several pages of direction. Kling says the model will also expand a short prompt with what it calls a director's eye, and it reports steadier camera work: push-ins, pull-outs, pans, tracking and orbiting shots, with smoother changes in shot size. Treat that expansion as a suggestion to review, because an expanded prompt can add details the client never approved. ¹

Sound, dialogue, languages and on-screen text

Kling 4.0 produces two-channel stereo audio, and Kling says lip-sync is more accurate, keeping voices, dialogue and performances in step. Spoken language support now covers Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, German and French among others, with accents including American, British and Indian English and several Chinese dialects. Kling's specification table also lists Indonesian, while its feature description lists Hindi, so confirm the exact language in the product before promising it to a client. ¹

Legible on-screen text has been a weak spot for AI video. Kling says Kling 4.0 generates clear text in the same range of languages, alongside emoji and logos, and keeps it stable while the camera moves. For advertising that matters: a price, a date or a product name that warps mid-shot makes a clip unusable. Check every frame that carries text, and add critical wording in the edit if the generated version drifts. ¹

Editing and extending existing video

Kling 4.0 can edit video as well as create it. It accepts up to five input clips, one of them the primary video, each 3 to 30 seconds long and 30 seconds combined. Kling says you can target expressions, body movements, camera position and movement, the overall style or the background while the rest of the scene stays stable, and its examples include removing an element and restyling a clip. ¹

That changes how revisions work. Instead of regenerating a whole shot because the client wants the runner to smile at the end, you ask for that one change. Kling also plans video extension, adding to an uploaded video several times up to two minutes, which would give longer scenes room to develop. It is listed as coming soon, so do not build a deadline around it yet. ¹

The new creation page, canvas and Agent

Kling redesigned its creation page for the release. Images, videos and audio references now go into one input box. You can switch between a grid view for comparing results and a list view for reviewing them one at a time, and a continuous timeline lets you preview, edit and insert material without starting over. A new canvas lets you arrange assets, steps and results as connected nodes, and an Agent can take a described goal, use Kling's tools and carry out steps toward it. ¹

Where Kling 4.0 fits in real projects

Two cautions apply to all of them. First, a generated person is not a real customer, so never present an AI character as a testimonial. Second, higher resolution is not the same as higher quality: a 4K clip with a misshapen product is still unusable. Decide where the video will run, pick the output size for that placement, and judge the content separately.

What Kling has not said yet

Kling's release note does not give prices or credit costs for Kling 4.0 or Flash, which subscription plans include the full model, when early access widens, or API availability for developers. It also publishes no benchmark scores. Until those appear, budget a trial rather than a production, and confirm the model, resolution and credit cost in your account before quoting a client. ¹

A sensible first trial uses a real brief you have already delivered. Draft it in Flash to settle the story and pacing, then, once the full model is available to you, regenerate the approved version with keyframes and references. Record how many generations each shot took, how long the edits ran and which frames needed repair. Those numbers, not the launch film, tell you whether Kling 4.0 saves your team time.