Well, it's confirmed. Codex can now generate images directly—no API key required—and it's using the gpt-image-2 model. But my testing uncovered a hidden limitation.
Codex really can create images on the fly now.
No need to set up your own API, no separate key configuration. You can just ask for an image right in the conversation.
I ran some tests, and here's what I found:
- 1:1 aspect ratio images come out around 1254 × 1254 pixels, totaling 1,572,516 pixels
- 16:9 images are about 1672 × 941 pixels, totaling 1,573,352 pixels
- 3:1 images measure roughly 2172 × 724 pixels, totaling 1,572,528 pixels
- 1:3 images come in at about 724 × 2172 pixels, totaling 1,572,528 pixels
No matter what aspect ratio you choose, Codex's built-in image generation seems to cap out at around 1.57 million total pixels.
You can check out the image quality in this post's screenshot.
So here's the takeaway:
Codex is indeed using the image-gpt-2 model, which can handle complex images and non-Latin text
Don't expect 4K—or even 2K—resolution. The system limits output to under 1.57 million pixels total.