ElevenLabs Music Generation

Generate music from text prompts - supports instrumental tracks, songs with lyrics, and fine-grained control via composition plans.

Setup: See Installation Guide. For JavaScript, use @elevenlabs/* packages only.

Quick Start

Python

from elevenlabs import ElevenLabs

client = ElevenLabs()

audio = client.music.compose(
    prompt="A chill lo-fi hip hop beat with jazzy piano chords",
    music_length_ms=30000
)

with open("output.mp3", "wb") as f:
    for chunk in audio:
        f.write(chunk)

JavaScript

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";
import { createWriteStream } from "fs";

const client = new ElevenLabsClient();
const audio = await client.music.compose({
  prompt: "A chill lo-fi hip hop beat with jazzy piano chords",
  musicLengthMs: 30000,
});
audio.pipe(createWriteStream("output.mp3"));

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/music" \
  -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"prompt": "A chill lo-fi beat", "music_length_ms": 30000}' --output output.mp3

Methods

See API Reference for full parameter details.

music.upload is available to enterprise clients with access to the inpainting feature.

Video to Music

Generate background music that follows one or more uploaded video clips. The API combines videos in order, accepts an optional natural-language description, and lets you steer style with up to 10 tags such as upbeat or cinematic.

Python

from elevenlabs import ElevenLabs

client = ElevenLabs()

audio = client.music.video_to_music(
    videos=["trailer.mp4"],
    description="Build suspense, then resolve with a warm cinematic finish.",
    tags=["cinematic", "suspenseful", "uplifting"],
)

with open("video-score.mp3", "wb") as f:
    for chunk in audio:
        f.write(chunk)

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/music/video-to-music" \
  -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" \
  -F "videos=@trailer.mp4" \
  -F "description=Build suspense, then resolve with a warm cinematic finish." \
  -F "tags=cinematic" \
  -F "tags=suspenseful" \
  -F "tags=uplifting" \
  --output video-score.mp3

Constraints from the current API schema:

• Upload 1-10 video files per request
• Keep total combined upload size at or below 200 MB
• Keep total combined video duration at or below 600 seconds
• Use description for high-level musical direction and tags for concise style cues

Composition Plans

For granular control, generate a composition plan first, modify it, then compose:

plan = client.music.composition_plan.create(
    prompt="An epic orchestral piece building to a climax",
    music_length_ms=60000
)

# Inspect/modify styles and sections
print(plan.positiveGlobalStyles)  # e.g. ["orchestral", "epic", "cinematic"]

audio = client.music.compose(
    composition_plan=plan,
    music_length_ms=60000
)

Content Restrictions

• Cannot reference specific artists, bands, or copyrighted lyrics
• bad_prompt errors include a prompt_suggestion with alternative phrasing
• bad_composition_plan errors include a composition_plan_suggestion

Error Handling

try:
    audio = client.music.compose(prompt="...", music_length_ms=30000)
except Exception as e:
    print(f"API error: {e}")

Common errors: 401 (invalid key), 422 (invalid params), 429 (rate limit).

References

• Installation Guide
• API Reference