Comparison between different upscaling software

We tested 5 ways to upscale 1080p footage to 4K, from video editors to AI upscalers. See how they work and compare in quality, workflow, and ease of use.

Drop a 1080p clip into a 4K timeline and you’ll notice it immediately. It can look softer and less detailed than the rest of your footage, making it surprisingly difficult to blend into the final edit.

If you shoot with Sony cameras, you’ve probably run into this at some point. Maybe it’s slow-motion footage recorded in Full HD, clips from an older Alpha body, or B-roll from a project you still want to reuse. Whatever the reason, not every valuable shot exists in 4K.

So what’s the best way to bring those 1080p clips up to today’s standards? In this guide, we will look at the most common ways to upscale 1080p footage to 4K, from traditional editing tools to AI-powered video upscalers, and compare the best solutions for different workflows.

There are three common ways to upscale 1080p footage to 4K, depending on whether you prefer to use a video editor, a dedicated AI upscaler, or an online tool.

If you’re already editing in applications like Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve Studio, upscaling directly inside your editing software is often the most convenient option.

Most editors can scale a Full HD clip to fit a 4K timeline, while some also include advanced enhancement features. For example, DaVinci Resolve Studio offers Super Scale, and Adobe Premiere Pro continues to add AI-powered enhancement tools to its workflow.

The biggest advantage is efficiency. Since the entire process happens inside your existing editing workflow, you can adjust, preview, and export your project without moving clips between different applications.

While these editors are incredibly powerful, their built-in upscaling features are designed to fit into a broader editing workflow, where performance and flexibility are also important considerations.

For challenging footage, native scaling may not always provide the level of detail recovery needed.

This is where dedicated AI video upscalers can serve as a useful complement to your editing workflow. Built specifically for video enhancement, these tools focus their processing on analyzing frames, enhancing perceived details, restoring fine textures, and reducing noise patterns.

Even if you rely on Premiere or Resolve for your main edit, processing selected 1080p clips through a dedicated AI upscaler can help them better match sharper 4K footage in the final timeline.

Below is an example where I used a dedicated AI video upscaler, Aiarty Video Enhancer , to upscale a 1080p video to 4K. I selected the Super Video vHQ model, set the upscale factor to 2x, kept the enhancement strength at the default value of 1, and adjusted the exposure setting to 19.

The original 1080p footage appears soft. After being upscaled to 4K with Aiarty Video Enhancer, fine details such as eyelashes and hair strands become clearer, while facial features appear more defined without looking artificially sharpened.

If you only need to process a short clip, online AI upscalers can be a convenient alternative. They don’t require installation and are often suitable for quick tests.

However, they’re usually less practical for larger projects. Uploading multi-gigabyte Sony footage can take time, file size limits are common, and cloud processing may not be ideal if you’re working with client footage or sensitive content.

To give you a better idea of what’s available, we selected five popular tools that represent different ways to upscale 1080p video to 4K.

Best for: Users who want a straightforward AI upscaling workflow with adjustable enhancement controls.

Aiarty Video Enhancer is designed for users who want to improve video quality without moving into a complicated post-production workflow. It combines AI upscaling, noise reduction, and detail enhancement in a single workflow, making it easier to improve footage without manually adjusting multiple tools or effects.

One thing I found useful while testing Aiarty is that it doesn’t lock you into a fixed enhancement level. Depending on the footage, you can dial the strength up or down instead of accepting a one-size-fits-all result.

For example, in the wildlife clip below, lowering the enhancement strength slightly produced a more balanced result than using the default setting. The upscaled 4K frame shows cleaner and natural-looking fur texture without appearing over-sharpened.

Download and install Aiarty Video Enhancer. You can try the free trial first. Launch the program and import the 1080p video you want to upscale.

Select an AI model based on your footage type.

Then choose the desired output resolution. You can either set the upscale factor to 2x or directly select 4K output to upscale 1080p footage.

The two options may produce slightly different results depending on the source video. For the best balance between detail enhancement and natural-looking results, it is worth previewing both settings and choosing the one that works better for your footage.

Preview the result and adjust the enhancement strength or other settings if needed. Once satisfied with the output, click Add Task and export the final 4K video.

If you need to process multiple clips, Aiarty Video Enhancer supports batch processing with either the same settings or customized settings for each video.

Best for: Creators who want detailed control over AI enhancement and have capable hardware for intensive processing workflows.

Topaz Video AI offers a wide selection of specialized AI models. It provides discrete models designed for specific footage conditions, such as Proteus for general fine-tuning, Iris for facial enhancement, and Nyx for dedicated noise reduction. Choosing the right model and settings often requires some testing.

In testing with a noisy indoor portrait clip, achieving the best output required trying a few different models. While Proteus left behind a bit of residual grain and Nyx did not yield optimal results for this specific subject, switching to Iris (designed for face enhancement) delivered the cleanest result.

Open Topaz Video AI and import your video clip. Set the output resolution to 4K and choose the enhancement mode for your project.

Choose an AI model based on your footage characteristics. You can fine-tune settings such as detail recovery and noise reduction depending on the result you want to achieve.

Generate a preview in the split-view player to compare the changes before processing the full clip. Once satisfied with the result, add the video to the export queue and render the final 4K output.

Best for: Editors already working within the Resolve ecosystem who want a seamless upscaling solution without leaving their timeline.

DaVinci Resolve Studio includes a powerful built-in tool called Super Scale, driven by the DaVinci Neural Engine. Unlike standard scaling that simply stretches the image and leaves it looking soft, Super Scale analyzes frames to generate new pixel details directly inside your editing timeline, eliminating the need to export and re-import footage through external apps.

In testing with a 1080p clip, Super Scale provided a noticeably sharper, cleaner image. Choosing the Enhanced mode offered a great balance of edge clarity and detail recovery. However, it is important to dial in the settings carefully. Setting noise reduction too high can occasionally give skin textures a slightly over-smoothed look, so keeping it moderate yields the most natural result.

Open your project settings and set the timeline resolution to 3840 × 2160 (Ultra HD). Then place your 1080p clip on the timeline.

Select the clip, open Clip Attributes or the Inspector panel, and enable Super Scale. Set the multiplier to 2x Enhanced to upscale the Full HD footage to 4K.

Fine-tune options such as Sharpness and Noise Reduction based on your footage. Preview the result, then render the timeline to export the upscaled 4K video.

Best for: Adobe workflow users who want to scale footage natively or utilize the Creative Cloud ecosystem for detail preservation.

Many editors live entirely inside Adobe Premiere Pro, making it the most obvious first stop for upscaling. If you drop a 1080p clip onto a 4K timeline, you can easily right-click and choose “Set to Frame Size” to enlarge it. However, this relies on basic digital scaling. While adding a standard Sharpen effect or tweaking Lumetri settings can help a bit, this method often leaves your footage looking soft and digitally zoomed when compared to native 4K clips.

To get a significantly better result without leaving the Adobe ecosystem, you need to tap into the Detail-preserving Upscale effect. While this specific tool actually lives inside After Effects, it is seamlessly accessible from your Premiere Pro timeline thanks to Adobe’s Dynamic Link. It does a much better job of analyzing the image and retaining edge clarity and fine textures as the resolution increases.

Create a 4K sequence in Premiere Pro and add your 1080p footage to the timeline. For higher-quality scaling, you can send the clip to After Effects through Dynamic Link.

Right-click the clip in Premiere Pro and select Replace with After Effects Composition. In After Effects, apply the Detail-preserving Upscale effect from the Effects & Presets panel, then scale the footage to fit the 4K composition.

Fine-tune the Detail setting based on your footage. Once you save the After Effects composition, the processed clip will automatically update in your Premiere Pro timeline through Dynamic Link.

Best for: Users who want to upscale short videos online without installing software.

TensorPix is a cloud-based AI video enhancement service that allows you to upscale videos directly from your browser. Since all processing is performed on remote servers, you don’t need a powerful computer or dedicated GPU to improve your footage.

Open TensorPix in your browser and upload the video clip you want to upscale.

Choose 2160p (4K) under the Upscale option, then select a preset based on your footage type, such as General, People, or Old Video. These presets apply recommended enhancement settings automatically, which can simplify the process for users who do not want to adjust multiple parameters manually.

Use the preview feature to check the enhancement on a selected section of the clip before processing the entire video. Once satisfied with the result, proceed with the full export.

Upscaling 1080p footage to 4K is no longer just about making a video bigger. It’s about making it look better. The best choice depends on your editing workflow, your budget, the condition of your source footage, and whether you need a quick solution or more advanced control.

If you already edit in DaVinci Resolve Studio or Adobe Premiere Pro, their built-in upscaling features offer the most convenient workflow since everything stays inside your editing environment.

If you need a dedicated video upscaler, Topaz Video, Aiarty Video Enhancer, and TensorPix are all worth considering. Desktop solutions like Topaz Video and Aiarty Video Enhancer offer more control and are better suited for larger projects, while TensorPix can be a convenient option for quick jobs if you don’t mind uploading footage to the cloud or working within file size limits.

In many real-world workflows, you may also combine different tools. For example, you can edit and color grade your project in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, then send selected clips that need extra improvement to an AI video enhancer before the final export.

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