# Can Video Diffusion Models Predict Past Frames? Bidirectional Cycle Consistency for Reversible Interpolation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01700 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.01700/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Video generation, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 43 of its 55 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Apr 2026.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Video generation](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/video-generation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 43)

- [Wan: Open and Advanced Large-Scale Video Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20314/) (2025)
- [Stable Video Diffusion: Scaling Latent Video Diffusion Models to Large Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.15127/) (2023)
- [Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.03458/) (2022)
- [CogVideoX: Text-to-Video Diffusion Models with An Expert Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06072/) (2024)
- [VBench: Comprehensive Benchmark Suite for Video Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.17982/) (2023)
- [HunyuanVideo: A Systematic Framework For Large Video Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.03603/) (2024)
- [Align your Latents: High-Resolution Video Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08818/) (2023)
- [Diffusion Models: A Comprehensive Survey of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.00796/) (2022)
- [Open-Sora: Democratizing Efficient Video Production for All](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.20404/) (2024)
- [DynamiCrafter: Animating Open-domain Images with Video Diffusion Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.12190/) (2023)
- [MCVD: Masked Conditional Video Diffusion for Prediction, Generation, and Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.09853/) (2022)
- [Learning Correspondence from the Cycle-Consistency of Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.07593/) (2019)
- [Depth-Aware Video Frame Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.00830/) (2019)
- [Video Frame Interpolation via Adaptive Separable Convolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.01692/) (2017)
- [Real-Time Intermediate Flow Estimation for Video Frame Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.06294/) (2020)
- [AMT: All-Pairs Multi-Field Transforms for Efficient Frame Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.09790/) (2023)
- [FILM: Frame Interpolation for Large Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.04901/) (2022)
- [Frame Context Packing and Drift Prevention in Next-Frame-Prediction Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12626/) (2025)
- [Make-Your-Video: Customized Video Generation Using Textual and Structural Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00943/) (2023)
- [Extracting Motion and Appearance via Inter-Frame Attention for Efficient Video Frame Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00440/) (2023)
- [LDMVFI: Video Frame Interpolation with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09508/) (2023)
- [Video Interpolation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.01203/) (2024)
- [ToonCrafter: Generative Cartoon Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17933/) (2024)
- [VidGen-1M: A Large-Scale Dataset for Text-to-video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.02629/) (2024)
- [UltraVideo: High-Quality UHD Video Dataset with Comprehensive Captions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.13691/) (2025)
- [Generative Inbetweening: Adapting Image-to-Video Models for Keyframe Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.15239/) (2024)
- [Sparse Global Matching for Video Frame Interpolation with Large Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.06913/) (2024)
- [Framer: Interactive Frame Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.18978/) (2024)
- [Generative Inbetweening through Frame-wise Conditions-Driven Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11755/) (2024)
- [Explorative Inbetweening of Time and Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.14611/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [YoCausal: How Far is Video Generation from World Model? A Causality Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.30346/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Video frame interpolation aims to synthesize realistic intermediate frames between given endpoints while adhering to specific motion semantics. While recent generative models have improved visual fidelity, they predominantly operate in a unidirectional manner, lacking mechanisms to self-verify temporal consistency. This often leads to motion drift, directional ambiguity, and boundary misalignment, especially in long-range sequences. Inspired by the principle of temporal cycle-consistency in self-supervised learning, we propose a novel bidirectional framework that enforces symmetry between forward and backward generation trajectories. Our approach introduces learnable directional tokens to explicitly condition a shared backbone on temporal orientation, enabling the model to jointly optimize forward synthesis and backward reconstruction within a single unified architecture. This cycle-consistent supervision acts as a powerful regularizer, ensuring that generated motion paths are logically reversible. Furthermore, we employ a curriculum learning strategy that progressively trains the model from short to long sequences, stabilizing dynamics across varying durations. Crucially, our cyclic constraints are applied only during training; inference requires a single forward pass, maintaining the high efficiency of the base model. Extensive experiments show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance in imaging quality, motion smoothness, and dynamic control on both 37-frame and 73-frame tasks, outperforming strong baselines while incurring no additional computational overhead.