How to Upscale Video to 4K? 5 Effective Ways to Achieve That
Since you are here, you have probably come across the need to look for a way to upscale video to 4K. Well, what could be your intent? Do you have old videos, anime clips, movies, or social media content that you want to upscale to 4K to make them look sharper on modern screens and avoid a blurry or pixelated appearance? Whatever your intent is, thankfully, you landed here. This post features 5 effective ways to enhance and upscale video to 4K using various tools! Dive in now.
Guide List
When Should You Upscale Video to 4K Improve Video Quality to 4K with AnyRec Video Converter Render Video to 4K with DaVinci Resolve Super Scale Upscale Social Content to 4K with CapCut AI Enhance Upscale Real-World Footage to 4K with Real-ESRGAN Upscale Anime Video to 4K with Waifu2x Extension GUI FAQsWhen Should You Upscale Video to 4K
Before getting your fingertips busy using a free 4K video upscaler, there are a few things you need to take note of first. Upscaling video to 4K works best when you want to improve the appearance of older or lower-resolution videos on modern screens.
Good use cases:
- • Old home videos - Make family recordings look clearer and more enjoyable to watch.
- • YouTube content (better compression at 4K) - Uploading in 4K can give videos better compression and higher playback quality on platforms like YouTube.
- • Anime or animation - AI upscaling can sharpen lines and improve details of animations.
- • Screen recordings - Text, icons, and more can appear cleaner and easier to read.
- • Archival footage - Restore and enhance older footage for preservation or remastering.
Not ideal:
- • Already heavily compressed videos - AI may also enhance compression artifacts, making the video look unnatural.
- • Extremely low-quality sources (such as 240p videos) - There may not be enough original detail for AI to recover good results.
Keep in mind that modern upscaling processes use AI enhancement, not just simple pixel stretching. Their AI analyzes the video and attempts to recreate missing details to make the footage look sharper and more natural.
Improve Video Quality to 4K with AnyRec Video Converter
If you prefer a tool solution that can help you easily and effectively increase video resolution to 4K, the AnyRec Video Converter's Video Enhancer is a solid choice. This desktop-based tool's Video Enhancer is not just designed to help you upscale your videos to 4K, but also to improve their overall quality. It can fix videos that are too grainy, too dark, too blurry, or too shaky. Once enhanced, your videos will have better colors, sharper details, reduced shakiness, and cleaner visuals with less noise.
Automatically upscale resolution with AI or manually pick 4K resolution (3840 × 2160).
Supports the ability to optimize the brightness and contrast of your video.
Capable of removing video noise and reducing its shakiness to stabilize it.
Lets you cut the video's unwanted parts and convert it to another format.
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Step 1.Install the AnyRec Video Converter on your desktop and launch it afterward. Next, click the "Toolbox" tab, search for "Video Enhancer", and select it.
Step 2.Then, import the video you wish to upscale by clicking the "Plus" icon. Next, tick the "Upscale Resolution" option's checkbox to upscale your video to 4K. You can keep the rest unchecked.
Step 3.After that, click the "Resolution" dropdown button and select the 4K resolution "3840 × 2160". Once done, you can click "Preview" to see how the video looks. Once satisfied, click "Enhance". And that's it! That's how you use this tool as a 720p or 1080p to 4k video upscaler.
Render Video to 4K with DaVinci Resolve Super Scale
Aside from that, you can also use DaVinci Resolve to upscale video to 4K. DaVinci Resolve is a professional editing tool that includes a feature called Super Scale. This feature helps you increase video resolution, including upscaling to 4K, simply and efficiently. Instead of just stretching the image, it uses smart processing to add more detail and improve sharpness to truly enhance video quality. However, this feature is not available for use under the tool's free version.
Step 1.Inside DaVinci Resolve, create a new project and open it. Next, create a new timeline for your video. For an existing timeline, right-click it and choose the "Timeline Settings" option.
Step 2.In the Timeline Settings window, uncheck the box "Use Project Settings". For the "Timeline Resolution" drop-down options, select the 3840 × 2160 Ultra HD (4K) option.
Step 3.Then, drag and drop your video into the "Media Pool". Next, hover your mouse over the video, right-click to open the menu, then select "Clip Attributes". From there, you can access the "Super Scale" settings.
Step 4.In Super Scale, choose 2x, 3x, or 4x depending on your video. You can also adjust noise reduction and sharpness if needed. Finally, click the "Rocket Icon", make sure the export resolution is set to 4K (3840 × 2160), then click "Render" to export your upscaled video.
Upscale Social Content to 4K with CapCut AI Enhance
If you find DaVinci Resolve overwhelming, you can try CapCut instead. This tool lets you improve video quality to 4K simply by exporting it in 4K resolution. It also features an AI-powered video enhancer called "Enhance Quality", which can fix blurry, grainy, or low-resolution visuals automatically. Through these features, you can achieve a smoother and more seamless 4K result. However, the CapCut video quality enhancer is limited to three free uses per day.
Step 1.Run CapCut and create a new project by clicking the "Create project" button. Then, click "Import" to upload the video clip you wish to upscale and drag it to the timeline.
Step 2.After that, head to the right section of the tool, scroll down to the Basic tab's menu, and look for "Enhance quality". Then, tick its checkbox, click the "Level" dropdown menu, and choose "UHD". Then, wait until the tool is finished processing it.
Step 3.Once done, click the "Export" button at the upper right corner, click the "Resolution" dropdown button, and select "4K" to upscale your video to 4K resolution. Then, click "Export".
Upscale Real-World Footage to 4K with Real-ESRGAN
Aside from traditional video editors, you can also use Real-ESRGAN as your 4K upscaler video powered by AI. This web-based tool improves blurry or low-quality footage by enhancing details, reducing noise, and making videos look sharper and cleaner. Unlike regular upscaling that only stretches pixels, Real-ESRGAN uses AI to reconstruct missing details and improve overall quality. However, this solution is not free, as you need to buy credits to upscale videos.
Step 1.Visit the Real ESRGAN website on your browser, scroll down, and import the video you want to upscale.
Step 2.After that, select the "4K" resolution option below and choose the "60" FPS for smooth video output.
Step 3.Once done, click the "Upscale Video" button to start the video upscale process. And that's it! That's how you use Real-ESRGAN as an AI-powered 4K upscale video tool.
Upscale Anime Video to 4K with Waifu2x Extension GUI
Last but not least is Waifu2x Extension GUI, a powerful open-source desktop application that uses AI to upscale, denoise, and interpolate images, GIFs, and videos. It is especially great for upscaling anime videos, as it can sharpen details, reduce noise, and preserve anime-style visuals while converting videos to higher resolutions like 4K. However, beginners may find its setup and settings a bit complicated compared to other AI video upscalers. If you are interested in trying this one, here are the steps to use it as an AI upscale video to 4K tool.
Step 1.Head to the GitHub website and search for Waifu2x Extension GUI. Then, download and install it.
Step 2.After that, run Waifu2x, head to the "Home" section, and drag the anime video into it. Next, change the video's original resolution values to "3840 pixels" and "2160 pixels", which is equivalent to 4K.
Step 3.Once done, choose your preferred output folder and start the upscaling process. Wait until the process is finished, and the output will be saved to your selected folder.
FAQs
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Can I upscale video to 4K online for free?
Yes. There are free online tools that can upscale videos to 4K, like Free AI Video Upscaler. Unfortunately, free versions usually come with limitations such as lower export quality, slower processing speed, watermarks, and more.
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Can AI really improve low-quality videos when upscaling to 4K?
Yes. Upscaling a video with AI can help you improve the video's quality by sharpening details and reducing noise. However, it cannot fully restore details that were not in the original video, especially if the source is very low quality.
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Does upscaling a video file to 4K increase its file size?
Yes. Upscaling a video to 4K usually increases the file size because the video contains more pixels and detail than its original version. Aside from that, its final size also depends on the video length, bitrate, format, and export settings.
Conclusion
With the help of these tools that can enhance video quality to 4K, whatever your intent may be, whether you have old videos, anime clips, movies, or social media content that you want to enhance for sharper viewing on modern screens and to avoid a blurry or pixelated appearance, you can use them to achieve a clearer and higher-quality version of your low-resolution video. In actuality, all of them are effective enough to help you improve the quality of your video. Still, AnyRec Video Converter's Video Enhancer can provide you with the best and fastest result! Try it now.
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