ByteDance upscaler vs Topaz video

ByteDance Upscaler Video starts at 3 credits and targets 1080p, 2K or 4K. Topaz Upscale Video starts at 4 credits, currently discounted 50% from 8. Both bill per second at a rate that depends on output resolution, and both are video passes. Neither is a still upscaler. If you have a JPEG, you are on a different slug.

ByteDance Upscaler Video is edit-video, source video required, 1080p / 2K / 4K targets, from 3 credits (a full job runs 3 to 277), audio null, no duration chips. Description: AI-powered video upscaling from ByteDance. The plate is the contract.

Topaz Upscale Video is edit-video, image not required on the published gate, from 4 credits (a full job runs 4 to 96), catalog marked discounted 50% from 8, audio null, no duration chips, no max resolution listed on the card. Description: Topaz Labs video upscaling — detail-preserving enhancement applied per frame, lifting soft or low-resolution footage toward crisp HD and beyond without the smeared look of naive scalers. That sentence is Topaz’s job: per-frame hold, less smear.

The pick is ByteDance from 3 credits versus Topaz from 4, on footage. It is not ByteDance Image versus Topaz Image. Those exist as other rows. Mixing them is how a still upscaler eats a clip, or a video upscaler is fed one frame and billed as if you understood the card.

The 4K pass versus Topaz

ByteDance from 3, 4K target when the delivery needs a 4K file, the motion is already right, and you want the plain ceiling bump. Generate was 720p or 1080p. Timeline is 4K. Do not expect Topaz’s “without the smeared look” sentence to appear on this card. You are buying the 4K target at the lower floor.

Topaz from 4 when smear is the failure you already saw: faces crawling, type shimmering, a naive scale you already tried in an editor. The description is the routing rule. Four credits is the Topaz video floor, discounted 50% from 8 in the catalog. Still not USD.

Do not run both by default. Two passes on the same clip is a stack you should be able to name: ByteDance to 4K, then Topaz because the 4K pass smeared. If you cannot name that, pick one.

Neither row invents motion. If the generate is a 5-second mess, 4K mess is the output. Upscale after picture lock. Upscale as a way to “see if it gets better” is how one pass becomes ten.

Upscale video to 4K is the editor task. AI video editor is the suite. 4K is a rate lookup, not a surcharge on generates; on these two cards 4K is the point of the pass (ByteDance) or left without a stated ceiling (Topaz). Read the chip.

ByteDance requires a plate. No file, no 4K. Topaz’s published requires_image is false; you still need video. A paragraph will not upscale.

Not a still upscaler

Topaz Upscale Image is a different published job (a still, a different sticker). ByteDance has image tools that are not this slug. This comparison is bytedance-upscaler-video versus topaz-upscale-video.

Feeding a still to a video upscaler is the I2V habit. You will get one frame treated as a clip, or a refusal, or a wasted credit. Feed the clip.

Feeding a clip to a still upscaler is the other habit: you get frame one, sharp, and 149 other frames untouched. Then you wonder why the video is still 720p.

Duration lists are empty on both video cards. You are not choosing 5s versus 10s. Length follows the source. A 20-second 720p file is a 20-second upscale bill at the catalog sticker, not a 20-second generate.

Audio is null on both. Upscaling picture does not write a mix and does not promise to preserve one. Keep the WAV. Mux after. Native audio is a generate feature. If the source was silent, the 4K file is silent. Caption anyway. Add captions to video. Captions for silent autoplay. Type should be burned after the scale, or you will upscale captions you then replace.

Soft type in the source will become sharp-ish mush or ringing. If the hook is captions, burn them after the upscale. Burned-in captions. If the hook is a product label in the plate, upscale cannot invent letters the generate did not draw. An image model that can letter a label is a different family.

When ByteDance is enough, and when it is not

ByteDance is enough when:

• You generated on a 720p talking still (Fabric) or a 720p I2V (Midjourney V7 I2V) and the delivery sheet says 4K, and you accept that the upscaler cannot recover pores that were never there.
• You have a 1080p silent generate (Hailuo 2.3 Pro, many others) sitting on a 4K timeline and you need the file to match the sequence, not to win a sharpness contest.
• You will downscale for Reels anyway but the archive wants 4K. Then say that out loud: the pass is for the archive.

ByteDance is not enough when you already know it smears this kind of footage — handheld, grain, small faces. Then Topaz is the row, or you skip upscale and generate at the ceiling you needed.

Generating at 4K on a native 4K row is still the right move when the motion does not exist yet. Veo 3.1 starts at 64 credits, 4K, native audio, 4/6/8s. Upscaling a 720p Veo-shaped clip is not cheaper Veo. It is a 720p clip with a 4K wrapper.

Hair, rain, grain, crawl: inspect at 100% on a still frame before you batch 30 clips. Per-second billing times 30 clips adds up. A pass is cheaper than regenerating a clip that holds up, and it is waste if the first frame already failed.

Photoreal upscales of synthetic people do not wash disclosure. EU Article 50 from 2 August 2026. Article 50 disclosure. 4K is not authenticity.

Confirm video, then the ceiling

Open the catalog. If the chip says 4K and 3 credits and ByteDance, you are on the ByteDance pass. If the copy says per-frame, smear, Topaz, 4 credits, you are on Topaz. If the card is an image upscaler, you drifted.

Attach the clip. Picture lock first. Mix after. Captions after. Do not upscale a draft you will restyle; Lucy Restyle is 720p and will throw the 4K away. Order of operations: lock, look, then scale.

FAQ

Can I use ByteDance Upscaler Video on a still?

It requires a plate and it is a video row. A still belongs on a still upscaler. This comparison is video versus video.

How much does Topaz Upscale Video cost?

The published Topaz video card starts at 4 credits (currently discounted 50% from 8), bills per second at a rate that depends on output resolution, and does not list a max resolution on the catalog chip. ByteDance’s video card starts at 3 credits and lists 4K as its ceiling. If the delivery is “must say 4K on the chip,” ByteDance is the listing that says it.

Will either pass add a soundtrack?

No. audio is null on both. Keep the source mix. Native-audio dialogue is a generate family, not an upscaler.