Skip to content

Create upload

POST/uploads

Creates an intermediate Upload object that you can add Parts to. Currently, an Upload can accept at most 8 GB in total and expires after an hour after you create it.

Once you complete the Upload, we will create a File object that contains all the parts you uploaded. This File is usable in the rest of our platform as a regular File object.

For certain purpose values, the correct mime_type must be specified. Please refer to documentation for the supported MIME types for your use case.

For guidance on the proper filename extensions for each purpose, please follow the documentation on creating a File.

Body ParametersJSONExpand Collapse
bytes: number

The number of bytes in the file you are uploading.

filename: string

The name of the file to upload.

mime_type: string

The MIME type of the file.

This must fall within the supported MIME types for your file purpose. See the supported MIME types for assistants and vision.

purpose: "assistants" or "batch" or "fine-tune" or "vision"

The intended purpose of the uploaded file.

See the documentation on File purposes.

Accepts one of the following:
"assistants"
"batch"
"fine-tune"
"vision"
expires_after: optional object { anchor, seconds }

The expiration policy for a file. By default, files with purpose=batch expire after 30 days and all other files are persisted until they are manually deleted.

anchor: "created_at"

Anchor timestamp after which the expiration policy applies. Supported anchors: created_at.

seconds: number

The number of seconds after the anchor time that the file will expire. Must be between 3600 (1 hour) and 2592000 (30 days).

minimum3600
maximum2592000
ReturnsExpand Collapse
Upload = object { id, bytes, created_at, 6 more }

The Upload object can accept byte chunks in the form of Parts.

id: string

The Upload unique identifier, which can be referenced in API endpoints.

bytes: number

The intended number of bytes to be uploaded.

created_at: number

The Unix timestamp (in seconds) for when the Upload was created.

expires_at: number

The Unix timestamp (in seconds) for when the Upload will expire.

filename: string

The name of the file to be uploaded.

purpose: string

The intended purpose of the file. Please refer here for acceptable values.

status: "pending" or "completed" or "cancelled" or "expired"

The status of the Upload.

Accepts one of the following:
"pending"
"completed"
"cancelled"
"expired"
file: optional FileObject { id, bytes, created_at, 6 more }

The File object represents a document that has been uploaded to OpenAI.

id: string

The file identifier, which can be referenced in the API endpoints.

bytes: number

The size of the file, in bytes.

created_at: number

The Unix timestamp (in seconds) for when the file was created.

filename: string

The name of the file.

object: "file"

The object type, which is always file.

purpose: "assistants" or "assistants_output" or "batch" or 5 more

The intended purpose of the file. Supported values are assistants, assistants_output, batch, batch_output, fine-tune, fine-tune-results, vision, and user_data.

Accepts one of the following:
"assistants"
"assistants_output"
"batch"
"batch_output"
"fine-tune"
"fine-tune-results"
"vision"
"user_data"
Deprecatedstatus: "uploaded" or "processed" or "error"

Deprecated. The current status of the file, which can be either uploaded, processed, or error.

Accepts one of the following:
"uploaded"
"processed"
"error"
expires_at: optional number

The Unix timestamp (in seconds) for when the file will expire.

Deprecatedstatus_details: optional string

Deprecated. For details on why a fine-tuning training file failed validation, see the error field on fine_tuning.job.

object: optional "upload"

The object type, which is always "upload".

Create upload

curl https://api.openai.com/v1/uploads \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
    -d '{
          "bytes": 0,
          "filename": "filename",
          "mime_type": "mime_type",
          "purpose": "assistants"
        }'
{
  "id": "id",
  "bytes": 0,
  "created_at": 0,
  "expires_at": 0,
  "filename": "filename",
  "purpose": "purpose",
  "status": "pending",
  "file": {
    "id": "id",
    "bytes": 0,
    "created_at": 0,
    "filename": "filename",
    "object": "file",
    "purpose": "assistants",
    "status": "uploaded",
    "expires_at": 0,
    "status_details": "status_details"
  },
  "object": "upload"
}
Returns Examples
{
  "id": "id",
  "bytes": 0,
  "created_at": 0,
  "expires_at": 0,
  "filename": "filename",
  "purpose": "purpose",
  "status": "pending",
  "file": {
    "id": "id",
    "bytes": 0,
    "created_at": 0,
    "filename": "filename",
    "object": "file",
    "purpose": "assistants",
    "status": "uploaded",
    "expires_at": 0,
    "status_details": "status_details"
  },
  "object": "upload"
}