Workflow · THE SIGNAL
Runway adds a frame-rate finishing step to its API
Developers can convert clips up to five minutes long to a selected frame rate, including 120fps.
Apps using Runway can now convert frame rates automatically, potentially saving an editor a separate export for each clip.
What Happened
Runway added enhance_frame_rate to its developer API on September 17. It uses the video-upscale endpoint, with targets covering common film and broadcast rates as well as 120fps. It processes a clip you already have.
The Useful Limits
Input: clips up to 300 seconds.
Output: targets include 24, 25 and 30fps, broadcast rates such as 29.97fps, and higher rates up to 120fps.
Cost: the changelog lists one credit for every two seconds of video.
Why It Matters
For an editor receiving a folder of clips at different frame rates, conversion is another round of opening files and exporting them. A developer can now put that step into a Runway-based tool. The time saved would come from fewer manual exports; someone still needs to watch the results.
Try One Difficult Shot First
Before processing a batch, test fast motion, a moving subject passing behind another object or a hard cut. Compare the converted clip with the original at normal playback speed. More frames only help if the motion still looks right.