Images

Create image

Creates an image given a prompt. Learn more.

post/images/generations

Request body

promptstring required

A text description of the desired image(s). The maximum length is 32000 characters for the GPT image models, 1000 characters for dall-e-2 and 4000 characters for dall-e-3.

ninteger nullable

The number of images to generate. Must be between 1 and 10. For dall-e-3, only n=1 is supported.

The quality of the image that will be generated.

auto (default value) will automatically select the best quality for the given model.
high, medium and low are supported for the GPT image models.
gpt-image-2.5-sunburst and gpt-image-2.5-flare, including their 2026-09-08 snapshots, also support xhigh and max.
hd and standard are supported for dall-e-3.
standard is the only option for dall-e-2.

response_format'url' | 'b64_json' nullable

The format in which generated images with dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 are returned. Must be one of url or b64_json. URLs are only valid for 60 minutes after the image has been generated. This parameter isn't supported for the GPT image models, which always return base64-encoded images.

output_format'png' | 'jpeg' | 'webp' nullable

The format in which the generated images are returned. This parameter is only supported for the GPT image models. Must be one of png, jpeg, or webp.

output_compressioninteger nullable

The compression level (0-100%) for the generated images. This parameter is only supported for the GPT image models with the webp or jpeg output formats, and defaults to 100.

streamboolean nullable

Generate the image in streaming mode. Defaults to false. See the Image generation guide for more information. This parameter is only supported for the GPT image models.

partial_imagesinteger nullable

The number of partial images to generate. This parameter is used for streaming responses that return partial images. Value must be between 0 and 3. When set to 0, the response will be a single image sent in one streaming event.

Note that the final image may be sent before the full number of partial images are generated if the full image is generated more quickly.

moderation'low' | 'auto' nullable

Control the content-moderation level for images generated by the GPT image models. Must be either low for less restrictive filtering or auto (default value).

background'transparent' | 'opaque' | 'auto' nullable

Set the background of the generated image(s). This parameter is only supported for the GPT image models. Must be one of transparent, opaque, or auto (default value). When auto is used, the model will automatically determine the best background for the image.

gpt-image-2.5-sunburst and gpt-image-2.5-flare, including their 2026-09-08 snapshots, support opaque and transparent backgrounds. Transparent backgrounds are available for supported GPT Image models. For gpt-image-2 and gpt-image-2-2026-04-21, this support is in preview. When using transparent, set the output format to png or webp.

style'vivid' | 'natural' nullable

The style of the generated images. This parameter is only supported for dall-e-3. Must be one of vivid or natural. Vivid causes the model to lean towards generating hyper-real and dramatic images. Natural causes the model to produce more natural, less hyper-real looking images.

userstring

A unique identifier representing your end-user, which can help OpenAI to monitor and detect abuse. Learn more.

Example request

{
  "prompt": "A cute baby sea otter",
  "n": 1,
  "quality": "medium",
  "response_format": "url",
  "output_format": "png",
  "output_compression": 100,
  "partial_images": 1,
  "moderation": "low",
  "background": "transparent",
  "style": "vivid",
  "user": "user-1234"
}

Response

createdinteger required

The Unix timestamp (in seconds) of when the image was created.

background'transparent' | 'opaque'

The background parameter used for the image generation. Either transparent or opaque.

output_format'png' | 'webp' | 'jpeg'

The output format of the image generation. Either png, webp, or jpeg.

quality'low' | 'medium' | 'high' | 'xhigh' | 'max'

The quality of the image generated. One of low, medium, high, xhigh, or max.

Changes

Changed in 7 of the 163 revisions of this API.12657

Sep 25, 2026d86203de41ae4See the full diff
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Sep 3, 20269430b00d75b42See the full diff
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Sep 3, 20265f6acbcbb9192See the full diff
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Aug 20, 20265de4ab93fa242See the full diff
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May 13, 202674cbcf73838f911See the full diff
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This revision also has 40 changes that name no endpoint, such as unreferenced schemas being removed. See the revision's changelog
Apr 29, 20256a6c681b1820216See the full diff
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This revision also has 18 changes that name no endpoint, such as unreferenced schemas being removed. See the revision's changelog

Full history