Sora is shutting down. OpenAI's 'backup' is a full data export. I built SoraVault (free, open source)
OpenAI's 'data export' solution loses prompts and quality, so a developer built a free, open-source alternative.
In response to OpenAI's abrupt announcement that its Sora AI video generator is shutting down, a developer has released SoraVault, a free and open-source preservation tool. OpenAI's official solution for users to 'preserve their work' is a 24-hour link to a full ChatGPT data export, which requires sifting through years of history and loses critical metadata like prompts and original file quality. SoraVault, built by developer charju, directly addresses these shortcomings by intercepting API calls to download Sora v2 videos and v1 images in their original rendered quality, not compressed thumbnails.
Technically, SoraVault works as a Tampermonkey script that captures raw JSON responses between the Sora web interface and OpenAI's servers. This method allows it to save every prompt as a matching .txt sidecar file, preserving the creative intent behind each piece. The tool includes smart filters for keywords, aspect ratio, and date range, and can download up to 500 files in under 10 minutes using parallel processing. A standalone desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux is also in development, offering a browser-free solution for archiving work before OpenAI pulls the plug on Sora's servers permanently.
- Downloads original-resolution Sora v2 videos and v1 images directly from OpenAI's servers, not compressed thumbnails.
- Saves every prompt as a .txt sidecar file, preserving the full creative process and iterations.
- Uses API interception for efficient, parallel downloads (up to 5 files at once) with smart filtering options.
Why It Matters
This highlights the fragility of user-generated content on centralized AI platforms and provides a crucial tool for creators to retain ownership of their work.