Nvidia GPUs Can Now Automatically Upscale Videos on a Browser

The latest driver for Nvidia’s GPUs can upgrade the videos you watch on a browser by tapping AI algorithms to make the image quality sharper and clearer. 

Nvidia today rolled out a new feature called RTX Video Super Resolution(Opens in a new window) (VSR), which can boost lower-quality video up to 4K resolution. The feature is coming to RTX 3000 and 4000 GPUs for desktops and laptops through the company’s GeForce Game Ready Driver version 531.18. 

“RTX Video Super Resolution uses AI and RTX Tensor Cores (built into the GPUs) to improve the quality of video watched in a Chrome or Edge browser by removing blocky compression artifacts and upscaling video resolution,” the company said in the announcement(Opens in a new window).

Nvidia created the feature to address how most of the video offered over the internet is at 1080p quality or lower. Hence, the online video can suffer when watched over a higher-resolution 1440p or 4K display, which requires the browser to scale the images on a large screen space. 

RTX VSR uses AI-powered computer models to predict and create higher-resolution copies of lower-quality images. Specifically, it creates a “residual image at the target resolution,” and then superimposes it on top of a traditional upscaled image to correct errors. 

(Credit: Nvidia)

The resulting effect can remove the blocky and ringed image artifacts that persist in video streamed over a browser. “Edges look sharper, hair looks scruffier and landscapes pop with striking clarity,” Nvidia wrote in a blog post(Opens in a new window).  

(Credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia says RTX Video Super Resolution “supports video input resolutions from 360p to 1440p.” But don’t expect the technology to work miracles.

PCMag’s Michael Justin Allen Sexton got VSR running on a PC, and says the improvements are largely subtle. “It’s more noticeable at 720p upscaling,” he says, adding the effect can create sharper edges to people’s eyes and faces or to objects in a room.

A screenshot of the Nvidia upscaled video.

The same image, but non-upscaled.

A screenshot of the upscaled video.

A regular version of the same image.
(Credit: Nvidia)

Other users have noticed(Opens in a new window) similar results in the image quality. This includes(Opens in a new window) more defined lettering for fonts. But on the downside, VSR can cause an RTX graphics card to guzzle electricity.

“Holy moly, this thing uses a lot of power on my 3080. Uses more power than some games. Surprised me when the gpu fans kicked in full blast,” wrote(Opens in a new window) one user on Reddit.

Meanwhile, other users on social media have struggled(Opens in a new window) to activate the feature, despite owning the right hardware. It doesn’t help that there’s no indicator built into Nvidia’s software to let you know when it’s active.

To activate VSR on an eligible graphics card, Nvidia says you’ll need to upgrade your Chrome or Edge browser to the latest version. You’ll then have to go into the Nvidia control panel, navigate to Adjust Video Image Settings > Super resolution, where you can toggle the quality of the AI enhancement from 1 to 4. 

(Credit: Nvidia)

“Higher quality levels require additional GPU resources, so if users need more horsepower to run creative apps or games while playing video, the quality level can be adjusted,” the company said in its FAQ(Opens in a new window), which has more detailed instructions. 

If you’re on an RTX 2000 graphics card, don’t worry: The company plans on bringing the RTX VSR feature to the older GPU architecture. “We’re not ready to put a timeframe for when the Turing engineering work will be completed, but will provide an update when a future driver adds support for Turing generation GPUs,” Nvidia says in its FAQ. However, there’s no word if and when the feature will arrive on other browsers.