I'm the guy that wrote https://free.upscaler.video . I get why you're looking for a free upscaler tool, but as an explanation, AI Upscaling requires AI, and that usually requires GPUs, and because of the AI boom, GPUs are at a premium and crazy expensive. Add on top of that the fact that video takes a lot of processing power - if you've ever tried rendering a 1 hour video with Adobe Premeire Pro you'd understand. I would guess that a regular person who just wants a video upscaled would be looking at demos of AI upscaling that are super high quality. To obtain that level of quality, you need to do a lot of AI processing and you either need a GPU yourself and then use something like Topaz, or (2) You can use a cloud service, upload your video and get it upscaled. If I wanted to run a cloud service to upscale a 1080p movie to 4k, it'd cost me several dollars in server costs just for that one video. My free upscaling tool gets ~20,000 visitors a month, and while I don't track information about the videos (you can see exactly what I am tracking, I shared the source code here: https://github.com/sb2702/free-ai-video-upscaler/ ). , if each person had an hour long 1080p video, I'd be spending $1M per year out of pocket just so that people can have a free upscaling tool. The idea behind free.upscaler.video was that if you can accept lower upscaling quality, you don't need a GPU, and it'll still do something (it's noticeable for like gaming videos or cartoons) but because it's happening on your computer, it's fast and it's free and I don't ask anyone to sign in. The downside is, the quality isn't very good compared to like Topaz. But again, if I wanted to give good upscaling quality for free, why would I spend hundreds of thousands in my own pocket for nothing. I have a family, and I'm also running my own startup and this was like a side project for me. I'm also likely one of the few people that's actually spent time on low-level AI upscaling processing to make it faster/cheaper/usable without a GPU, but that same skillset has far more valuable applications ( https://medium.com/vectorly/building-a-more-efficient-background-segmentation-model-than-google-74ecd17392d5 ) and I sold my last company during the pandemic because we had ultra-efficient AI software that we were selling to video conferencing companies ( https://medium.com/vectorly/how-vectorly-joined-hopin-93dffdb1acc4 ). There was literally no incentive for me to create free.upscaler.video , I did it to be nice / give back / because I knew people were looking for free upscaling software. I've thought about building a paid service alternative to free.upscaler.video that would cover the server rendering costs enough to get someone fast, good-quality no-frills upscaling, but like it'd have to be a paid service, a free + no-nonsense + good quality system would be uneconomical. As a user you don't normally view it like this because there are plenty of AI tools out there that are free and also use a lot of GPU processing, but it's not dissimilar to the compute needed for say crypto mining. If you wouldn't expect there to be free tools that just give you free crypto, no questions asked, then you can understand the economics of why there aren't that many simple, no-nonsense free AI upscaling tools even though you might feel like there should be. It's in the same category of compute as crypto-mining, but because we're so used to free AI tools, you don't view it in the same category. ----------------- Update - July 27 ----------------------- I don't know why I never checked the logs on this, but apparently the vast majority of uploads on free.upscaler.video are very short videos (under 60 seconds), I assumed most people were uploading like 30 minute or 60 minute videos. None of that changes how expensive large AI networks are computationally, to get better results you'd likey need to wait 10x the duration of your video at the minimum, but the user experience definitely depends on whether you are waiting 2 minutes for a 10 second video, vs 10 hours for a 1 hour video. Sorry if this sounds stupid or obvious, it' s precisely because I don't ask anyone to log in, and don't track anything besides the video metadata (Resolution, length) that I have no idea why people are upscaling or what people are upscaling, I don't have servers that upscale, it's all being done on your computer. My guess is that a lot of that is AI generated footage, and I can 100% understand the desire to upscale that from 720p to 4K. Because those videos are so incredibly short, I think maybe I can build some AI networks that are 100x bigger, and yeah most computers would struggle with that / it'd be pretty slow, but for people with very short videos (the majority) that is probably fine? I will train some much bigger networks and release them in free.upscaler.video , and in the open source repository that powers it https://github.com/sb2702/websr/ Answer from sam_bha on reddit.com
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/software › free ai video upscaler?
r/software on Reddit: Free AI Video Upscaler?
February 24, 2025 -

Hey, i'm looking for a good Alternative to apps like Topaz AI. I only want to upscale my 1080p Videos to 4k with Ai. I've seen some people on the internet using CapCut for this as a free tool, but CapCut doesn't work for me, because I always get a error message telling me that something went wrong. So are there any other Free AI tools to Upscale Videos?

Top answer
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I'm the guy that wrote https://free.upscaler.video . I get why you're looking for a free upscaler tool, but as an explanation, AI Upscaling requires AI, and that usually requires GPUs, and because of the AI boom, GPUs are at a premium and crazy expensive. Add on top of that the fact that video takes a lot of processing power - if you've ever tried rendering a 1 hour video with Adobe Premeire Pro you'd understand. I would guess that a regular person who just wants a video upscaled would be looking at demos of AI upscaling that are super high quality. To obtain that level of quality, you need to do a lot of AI processing and you either need a GPU yourself and then use something like Topaz, or (2) You can use a cloud service, upload your video and get it upscaled. If I wanted to run a cloud service to upscale a 1080p movie to 4k, it'd cost me several dollars in server costs just for that one video. My free upscaling tool gets ~20,000 visitors a month, and while I don't track information about the videos (you can see exactly what I am tracking, I shared the source code here: https://github.com/sb2702/free-ai-video-upscaler/ ). , if each person had an hour long 1080p video, I'd be spending $1M per year out of pocket just so that people can have a free upscaling tool. The idea behind free.upscaler.video was that if you can accept lower upscaling quality, you don't need a GPU, and it'll still do something (it's noticeable for like gaming videos or cartoons) but because it's happening on your computer, it's fast and it's free and I don't ask anyone to sign in. The downside is, the quality isn't very good compared to like Topaz. But again, if I wanted to give good upscaling quality for free, why would I spend hundreds of thousands in my own pocket for nothing. I have a family, and I'm also running my own startup and this was like a side project for me. I'm also likely one of the few people that's actually spent time on low-level AI upscaling processing to make it faster/cheaper/usable without a GPU, but that same skillset has far more valuable applications ( https://medium.com/vectorly/building-a-more-efficient-background-segmentation-model-than-google-74ecd17392d5 ) and I sold my last company during the pandemic because we had ultra-efficient AI software that we were selling to video conferencing companies ( https://medium.com/vectorly/how-vectorly-joined-hopin-93dffdb1acc4 ). There was literally no incentive for me to create free.upscaler.video , I did it to be nice / give back / because I knew people were looking for free upscaling software. I've thought about building a paid service alternative to free.upscaler.video that would cover the server rendering costs enough to get someone fast, good-quality no-frills upscaling, but like it'd have to be a paid service, a free + no-nonsense + good quality system would be uneconomical. As a user you don't normally view it like this because there are plenty of AI tools out there that are free and also use a lot of GPU processing, but it's not dissimilar to the compute needed for say crypto mining. If you wouldn't expect there to be free tools that just give you free crypto, no questions asked, then you can understand the economics of why there aren't that many simple, no-nonsense free AI upscaling tools even though you might feel like there should be. It's in the same category of compute as crypto-mining, but because we're so used to free AI tools, you don't view it in the same category. ----------------- Update - July 27 ----------------------- I don't know why I never checked the logs on this, but apparently the vast majority of uploads on free.upscaler.video are very short videos (under 60 seconds), I assumed most people were uploading like 30 minute or 60 minute videos. None of that changes how expensive large AI networks are computationally, to get better results you'd likey need to wait 10x the duration of your video at the minimum, but the user experience definitely depends on whether you are waiting 2 minutes for a 10 second video, vs 10 hours for a 1 hour video. Sorry if this sounds stupid or obvious, it' s precisely because I don't ask anyone to log in, and don't track anything besides the video metadata (Resolution, length) that I have no idea why people are upscaling or what people are upscaling, I don't have servers that upscale, it's all being done on your computer. My guess is that a lot of that is AI generated footage, and I can 100% understand the desire to upscale that from 720p to 4K. Because those videos are so incredibly short, I think maybe I can build some AI networks that are 100x bigger, and yeah most computers would struggle with that / it'd be pretty slow, but for people with very short videos (the majority) that is probably fine? I will train some much bigger networks and release them in free.upscaler.video , and in the open source repository that powers it https://github.com/sb2702/websr/
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/videoediting › free, open source ai upscaler in the browser
r/VideoEditing on Reddit: Free, Open Source AI Upscaler in the Browser
November 11, 2023 -

I'm building a quick, free, no-nonsense tool for upscaling videos with AI right in the browser. There's no software to install, and no registration or sign up required - just input a video, and all the upscaling work is down on your own computer by the browser:

https://free.upscaler.video/

Demo here: https://youtu.be/wUuFJpo8Hfo

It's 100% open source, you can see the source code yourself: https://github.com/sb2702/free-ai-video-upscaler

I couldn't charge if I wanted to, as anyone can take the source code and host it themselves.

It right now does a better on Animated content than "Real Life" video but I'm working on porting more powerful AI models into the tool.

I built it because from previous experience as a casual user who just wants to upscale a few videos you have around, it's surprisingly frustrating. There are paid tools like Topaz Labs which are excellent but also overkill for non-professional work, or open source projects like Video2X which require a bunch of setup & config.

Some new advances in the latest browsers (like Webcodecs and WebGPU) now allow websites to do much more powerful stuff than in the past, so I wouldn't suprised if more, powerful video-editing tools come out soon that are also free & browser based.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/videoediting › is there a free online video upscaler to improve a low quality video?
Is there a free online video upscaler to improve a low quality video? : r/VideoEditing
October 23, 2024 - Why do you need an online upscaler especially? You can download and install Shutter Encoder for free to upscale your video without any limitations.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/software › best ai video upscaler
r/software on Reddit: Best AI video upscaler
October 12, 2024 -

Hi all, I’m wanting to upscale my Blu Ray collection to 4K. I’ve tried finding and simply purchasing titles in 4K but some have never been released in anything higher than BR 1080p.

Happy to pay a reasonable amount for software if it’s a better product. Also aware that the quality is not likely to be at the same level of true 4K releases but just looking to improve on full HD as much as possible.

I was going to try VideoProc but not sure if it is any good? Some recommendations would be appreciated.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/turtlebeach › is there a free 4k video quality enhancer online with no download, i need better quality for my videos.
r/TurtleBeach on Reddit: is there a free 4k video quality enhancer online with no download, i need better quality for my videos.
March 4, 2025 - 4K Download software is the most effective tool for downloading content from YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, Instagram and other popular sites. Join us and be the first to discover all the news and find many useful tips!
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/iosapps › 100% free ai photo and video upscaler app on ios called upres
r/iosapps on Reddit: 100% Free AI Photo and Video Upscaler app on iOS called UpRes
February 3, 2025 -

A really good friend of mine released a new app called UpRes that will upscale your photos (up to 16x resolution) and video (up to 4K). It is completely free with no subscription, no ads and no account needed to use. It's literally one of the few apps I've seen that is free with no strings attached. They are looking for productive feedback for improvements and thought this community could help.

It works for iPhone iPad and MacOS.

Link below:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/upres-ai-photo-video-upscaler/id6739590673?platform=iphone

Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/software › what's the best free ai video upscaler currently available?
r/software on Reddit: What's the best free AI video upscaler currently available?
July 12, 2025 -

Hey everyone, I'm looking for recommendations on the best free AI video upscaling tools out there. Ideally something that works well with low-res or older videos and can upscale to at least 1080p or 4K with decent quality.

Bonus if:

It runs locally (but cloud-based is fine too)

Supports batch processing

Doesn’t add watermarks

Works on Windows/Linux

I’ve tried a couple, but most seem to have limitations unless you pay. Curious to hear what’s worked best for you all!

Thanks in advance!

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Reddit
reddit.com › r › software › comments › 1hv5dr1 › best_freepaid_software_to_upscale_a_video_from
Best Free/Paid Software to upscale a video from 1080p ...
August 14, 2024 - I would like to upscale some videos , it's a 2 minute video to 4k or 8k, is this even possible and would it improve the quality of the picture?
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/videoeditors › how to enhance video quality? i’ve tried everything and still looks like potatoes
r/VideoEditors on Reddit: How to Enhance Video Quality? I’ve Tried Everything and Still Looks Like Potatoes
April 23, 2025 -

Alright, so I’m not a professional video editor. I just wanted to clean up a couple of videos I shot last year on my old phone (think early 2010s Android-level crustiness). The content is fine – a mix of old game footage, vacation clips, and some goofy talking-head stuff – but the quality? Yikes. Blurry, pixelated, weird lighting, weird audio. Basically unusable unless you’re watching it through a foggy window.

So yeah – how to enhance video quality? I've asked this question way too many times now. Thought it would be easy… No, it’s not.

I tried throwing the footage into a couple of editors. First stop: iMovie. Didn’t really help. Everything looked kind of... the same? Then I tried using VLC because someone on r/VideoEditing said you could sharpen videos with it. Honestly, no idea what I did in there. I just clicked through menus until I found a setting called “sharpen” or “enhance” or something and hoped for the best. Still looked like I recorded it on a microwave.

Eventually I downloaded Movavi Video Editor and saw it had some useful editing tools built in. Tried using the brightness/contrast sliders and their “magic enhance” feature. I’ll admit: it helped a little. Definitely looked less washed out. But the core issue – like the weird jitter or digital noise – that stuff didn’t really go away. I think it just made the blur a brighter blur.

Then I did what every desperate person does: went to Reddit. r/VideoEditing had a few suggestions – stuff like Topaz Video AI (too expensive), Premiere (crashed my laptop), and DaVinci Resolve (which I actually installed... and then uninstalled because the learning curve made my brain melt). Someone on Quora also mentioned using online tools like Clideo or Kapwing, but they either had watermarks or compressed the hell out of everything.

I even tried upscaling with AI tools. Uploaded one clip to an online site that promised to “upscale to 4K with AI magic” – ended up with a weird uncanny-valley version of my own face. Like my eyes were moving before the rest of my head. The whole thing felt like watching a deepfake made by someone who barely remembers what humans look like.

I messed around with resolution settings, bitrate sliders, color correction — you name it. Sometimes I’d get a tiny improvement, but it never looked like the examples people post in tutorials. Either I’m doing something wrong or my footage is just cursed.

Now I’m stuck. Either I live with low-res footage forever, or I become a VFX wizard in Resolve just to salvage something that’s barely two minutes long. Honestly feels like there’s no middle ground. I’m not looking for cinema-level results. I just want it to look less bad.

Anyway, if anyone here’s actually managed to take garbage footage and make it semi-decent (without spending $400 or selling their soul to Adobe), please help me out. I’m all out of ideas and already renamed the original file “final_final_really_final_fix_this_pls.mp4” so you know it’s serious.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for the rant. Still hopeful... maybe. Kinda. Not really.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/stablediffusion › what is the best video upscaler besides topaz?
r/StableDiffusion on Reddit: What is the best video upscaler besides Topaz?
April 20, 2025 -

Based on my research, it seems like Topaz is the best video upscaler currently. Topaz has been around for several years now. I am wondering why there hasn't been a newcomer yet with better quality.

Is your experience the same with video upscaler software, and what is the best OS video upscaler software?

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Topaz has been around for years, but they haven't just lazed around since the first release. They regularly release minor and major updates. The last major version being released just last month, and that included a big new diffusion based model. That's why it's still considered the top app within the video upscaling space. It's hard for a newcomer to come into the space when Topaz already has all of the momentum and capital flowing into it. As for opensource solutions, there are various open image upscaling models like SRMD, Real-ESRGAN, etc which can be used for videos. You can usually find CLI tools designed to use these models, but it's not all that polished or newbie friendly. One of the only somewhat beginner friendly GUIs I know of for open source upscalers with video support is Waifu2x-Extension-GUI, which despite the name is not Waifu2x centered at this point. Note though that it operates under a freemium model, with some of its features locked behind a patreon unlock.
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I just researched 10 different AI upscalers today and tested Real-ESRGAN, Nomos2, and Topaz. Here's what I found. -Topaz is the best overall. Better at not over-smoothing out skin/faces, while still adding enough detail to backgrounds/objects. Good compromise overall. It seems to know not to make blurry things sharp, not to remove detail from faces, and knows what exactly to add more detail to. -Real-ESRGAN is better than Topaz for making everything sharper including objects and backgrounds, except makes skin and faces super smooth that ruins the entire video and makes it unusable unless you want all actors to look like they have crazy Instagram filters on. I used the method of running the exe + the .param and .bin model files using Python to make it run 5 times faster than using the .pth checkpoint file with PyTorch. Using PyTorch/.pth file has a strength setting though, where you could decrease it from 1.0 to less to tone down the smoothness. -Instead of going that route, I switched to Nomos2 using the .pth checkpoint model file with PyTorch. It kept the skin/faces still very detailed and only make it about 10% smoother -- about 1 small notch worse than Topaz. Sharpness/details for background/objects were between Topaz and Real-ESRGAN except Topaz added more detail to hair. It fixed up some of the detail when you zoom all of the way in but isn't quite as smooth/detailed as Real-ESRGAN. It messed up detail with ears by making it more pixily, one small part with hair by adding more grid-like lines, and made an object that was blurry too detailed where it looked weird. All 3 also make the backgrounds and objects that are supposed to be blurry/have bokeh more detailed. Real-ESRGAN did this the most, Nomos2 did 2nd most, and Topaz did it least. This is super annoying from a filmmaking perspective, since distant objects are supposed to be blurry. I would rate them: Topaz 9/10 Nomos2 8/10 Original 6.5/10 Real-ESRGAN 4.5/10 Topaz's API is pretty expensive and Nomos2 is free, so I'm going with Nomos2. When playing back all the Topaz, Namos2, and original videos, all 3 look good to use. Sometimes the 720p original video looks better since I like certain parts to be blurry, but the upscaled ones look sharper when zoomed in or watched on a large TV. Nomos also converted it from 720p to 5k and increased the file size by 2.88x. Topax converted it from 720p to 2k (wouldn't allow 5k) and increased the file size by 2.09x.