Research Paper to Video
your abstract, but watchable
Give your paper an audience beyond the PDF. The AI distills your abstract, method, and findings into a narrated animated summary.
Upload your paper (PDF)
Click or drag it here. Nothing is uploaded until you generate.
- •Text-based PDF, Word, Markdown or TXT, up to 50 MB.
- •Headings help: each section becomes a scene.
- •Scanned pages work, but clean text gives better narration.
Trusted by teams, schools, and organizations around the world
Upload the paper's PDF and DistilBook produces a narrated video summary: typically 6 to 10 slides covering the problem, method, results, and why it matters, each with custom artwork and AI voiceover. A conference-ready explainer takes about 25 minutes of generation, not a weekend of After Effects.
You start free: signing up gives you 10 credits with no credit card, a slide costs 10 credits, so the first slide of your video generates free and you can watch it in full; the rest unlocks on a paid plan. DistilBook accepts PDF, Word, images, plain text, a web article link, or a written prompt, and you approve the AI narration script before anything renders. Paid plans start at $20 per month for 230 credits, roughly 23 slides, which removes the watermark and unlocks MP4 export at up to 1440p. Narration is available in 20 languages, and the research paper to video output can carry your own logo and brand colors. Whiteboard and motion videos can be made in 16:9 landscape or in 9:16 vertical for Shorts, Reels and TikTok. Since April 2026, more than 1,400 people have made over 2,800 videos with DistilBook, most of them from PDFs.
Last updated : timings, limits and prices on this page were checked against the live product.
What do the videos look like?
Untouched DistilBook output. Press play on any of them.
How does it work?
Upload the paper
Standard two-column layouts, preprints, and scanned papers all parse. Math-heavy sections are summarized in plain language rather than read aloud verbatim.
Shape the story
The narration pause is where you fix nuance: correct a claim, add a caveat, or simplify jargon before any audio or artwork is generated.
Generate the explainer
Each section becomes an illustrated slide with synced narration and highlight animations that walk viewers through the idea.
Share it
Export MP4 for conference submissions and social posts, or share the web link in your paper's repo and on your lab page.
What do you get in every video?
| Video styles | 19 styles: hand-drawn whiteboard plus motion graphics |
|---|---|
| Narration | AI voices in 20 languages, reviewed and editable before generation |
| First result | First narrated slide plays in about 6 minutes |
| Branding | Your logo, colors, and company text on every slide |
| Editing | Edit narration, slide images, titles, and reveals before rendering |
| Export | MP4 at 720p, 1080p, or 1440p, plus a shareable web link |
| Inputs | PDF, Word, images, plain text, web articles, or a written prompt |
What does it cost?
The first slide generates free with 10 signup credits. Paid plans are priced per slide, so a video costs a predictable amount.
| Plan | Price | Credits | What that makes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 credits on signup | First slide generated, watermarked preview | No credit card |
| Basic | $20 / month | 230 credits / month | About 23 slides, 45 minutes of video | MP4 download, no watermark |
| Pro | $50 / month | 650 credits / month | About 65 slides | 1080p export, longer videos |
| Max | $100 / month | 1,340 credits / month | About 134 slides | 1440p export, priority queue |
One slide costs 10 credits. Yearly plans are 30% cheaper. Full details on the pricing page.
Who is this for?
PhD students and postdocs
Conferences increasingly ask for video abstracts. Generate one from the camera-ready PDF the same day it is accepted.
Labs and departments
A steady stream of paper explainers builds a lab's public profile far faster than PDFs behind paywalls.
Science communicators
Summarize new papers into short narrated videos for YouTube or classes without manually storyboarding each one.
Frequently asked questions
How do I present a research paper as a video?
Upload the PDF to DistilBook and approve the generated narration. The standard structure is problem, prior work gap, method, results, and implications, one slide each, which matches how video abstracts are typically judged.
Will it misrepresent my results?
You review and can edit every sentence of narration before generation, so the scientific claims stay exactly as you phrase them. The AI drafts; you approve.
Can it handle equations and figures?
Equations are explained in words rather than rendered symbol by symbol, and you can insert actual figures from the paper into slides with the editor.
What length should a video abstract be?
Most venues expect 2 to 5 minutes. DistilBook's default distillation of a paper lands naturally in that range.
How does DistilBook compare?
Deciding between tools? These honest comparisons cover pricing, visual styles, and who should pick which.
Common questions are answered on the answers page, and step by step guides live in the docs.
Or read the full roundup: the best AI tools to turn documents into training videos in 2026.
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Ready to see your content as a video?
Your first narrated slide is about 3 minutes away.