How to upscale a video to 4K

Lock the keeper, then upscale that file. On this catalog the three video rows are ByteDance Upscaler Video from 3 credits with 4K listed (1080p / 2K / 4K targets), Topaz Upscale Video from 4 credits, and Runway Upscale V1 from 8 credits. All three bill per second of footage, so a full job costs more than the starting price. Upscale a video to 4K is the editor door. It will not invent a pour that was never in the plate, and it will not turn a 360p miss into a hero.

This is the procedure after picture lock. It is not a 360p Omni draft essay and it is not a rate-table explainer.

Lock the keeper before you buy pixels

An upscale is a child of a file you already signed. If the eyes are wrong, the pack is a cousin, or the hand teleports, you will pay to sharpen the defect.

Check the parent before you touch a row:

1. Watch at 1×, sound on, then muted. Score verbs, not grain.
2. Scrub contacts: the pour, the grip, the label, the blink, the last frame.
3. Confirm ratio. 9:16 in, 9:16 out. Upscale does not recrop a 16:9 draft into a Reel.
4. Confirm duration. You are paying to process this length, not a future trim.
5. Confirm this is the take you will caption. Burning type first and then upscaling letters is how you get crunchy captions.
6. Write the parent URL down. Keep the original. The upscale is a new file.

Reject the parent if any of these fail:

• The SKU lettering is already mush at 100%. A 4K upsample of an unreadable label is a larger unreadable label.
• The motion is an artefact jump inside one generate. Sharpening a teleport does not restore physics.
• You are still iterating the prompt. Drafts stay at the generate tier.

The AI video generator is where the parent comes from. Native 4K rows such as Veo 3.1 (from 64 credits, 4/6/8s, 4K listed) exist when the brief was always a 4K plate. Use those when you have not locked a lower-res take you like. This page is for the file you already like and now need bigger.

Do not upscale a batch of maybes “to compare at 4K.” Compare at the resolution you generated. Upscale the one that survived.

Pick the row, then name the target

Three published rows. They are not synonyms.

Row	Credits (from)	What the card actually lists	Use it when
bytedance-upscaler-video	3	Edit-video, 4K max, qualities 1080p / 2K / 4K, audio null	Default 4K pass on a locked plate
topaz-upscale-video	4	Edit-video, audio null, no max resolution listed, per-frame hold	Soft footage you want less smear, not a second generate
runway-upscale-v1	8	video_upscale, from 8 credits, audio empty, no max output resolution listed	When that is the row you already picked, not as a default

Procedure:

1. Open upscale video to 4K. Supply the keeper URL.
2. Name the model. Do not let “upscale” default you into the 8-credit Runway row if ByteDance’s 4K pass is the job.
3. If ByteDance is the pick, name the target: 4K when the deliverable is 4K. 1080p is allowed when the platform will recompress to 1080 anyway and you only needed a cleaner HD file.
4. Ask for estimate_cost on this file and this model. Length follows the footage. There are no duration chips on these cards.
5. Check credits. Then run one pass, not a stack.

Stacking is the usual waste. ByteDance then Topaz then a “make it crunchy” pass invents texture that was not in the source. One row, one target. If 4K of a 720p pack is still soft on the SKU, you needed a still plus image-to-video, not a second upscaler.

Runway’s published description talks about image upscaling and detail preservation. The catalog type is video_upscale. Treat it as the 8-credit option on this job, not as a text-to-video generate and not as a still editor. If you only have a still, that is a different task.

Audio is null on ByteDance and Topaz. The pass is picture. Keep the soundtrack aligned. If you will replace audio later, do that after the upscale so you are not attaching a VO to a file you then throw away.

Run the pass and QC at 100 percent

The tool returns a higher-resolution version of what was there. Compression blocks, banding, and temporal mush get louder with the detail.

QC checklist, in this order:

1. Open the child at 100% on a laptop, then on a phone. Do not score it in a tiny preview.
2. Read the pack. If you cannot read the SKU at the size the ad will run, the upscale failed the brief even if the face looks sharper.
3. Scrub motion. Look for a faint grid, crawling edges, or a smear on the pour. Those are upscale artefacts, not “more cinematic.”
4. Check skin and fabric. Over-sharpened pores are not a keeper.
5. Check the join if this plate will sit next to an un-upscaled shot. Grain mismatch is a grade problem. Upscale the set, or generate the hero on a native 4K row, or accept the mismatch in writing.
6. Confirm duration and ratio still match the parent. If they do not, you ran the wrong job.
7. Keep both files. You may still need the parent for a recut.

If the child is sharper and still honest, lock it. If the child invented sparkle on the label, stop. Do not run a second model “to fix the sparkle.” Go back to a locked product still and image-to-video, or generate the hero at 4K.

ByteDance exposes 1080p, 2K, and 4K as the target list. Starting at 1080p, inspecting, then stepping to 4K is allowed when you are unsure the plate can hold 4K. Two modest steps still cost two jobs. On a plate you already trust, one 4K pass is the cheaper honesty.

Do not upscale a 20-second draft you will throw away. Duration is the plate. A low starting price is not a reason to process junk.

Caption after the upscale, then ship

Type is pixels. Upscaling a burned caption is how you get crunchy letters and a timing track you cannot nudge.

Finish order:

1. Picture lock on the upscaled file.
2. Audio lock. If the parent had native audio, copy it onto the child or replace it on purpose. Do not leave a silent 4K plate you meant to be voiced.
3. Burn captions on the child via add captions to video. 165 language codes. BASIC at 1×, DYNAMIC at 2×. Preview the look on the first seconds of this file, not the 720p parent.
4. Recheck safe area. A 4K file recropped to 9:16 has a new bottom chrome problem if you lettered for 16:9.
5. Export the child. Archive the parent.

If you already captioned the parent, you recaption. There is no “scale the burn.” Overlay headlines are the same rule: letter after the upscale.

Delivery note: some platforms re-encode to 1080p. A 4K master can still be the right archive and the right source for a 16:9 cutdown. It is the wrong spend if the only destination is a heavily compressed feed and the pack was already soft. Honesty about the destination is the whole decision.

If you need a studio seat to run the 4K pass on a locked keeper, sign up. Bring the parent URL and the target. Do not bring a folder of misses.

FAQ

Will a 4K upscale add detail that was never in the take?

No. It enhances what the plate already has. An unreadable label stays an unreadable label with more pixels. If the SKU has to letter, start from a still plus image-to-video or a native 4K generate.

Which row should I default to?

ByteDance from 3 credits with 4K listed is the default 4K pass on this catalog. Topaz from 4 credits is the per-frame hold when smear is the complaint. Runway from 8 credits is the third published option, not the cheap default.

Should I caption before I upscale?

No. Burn type on the child. Upscaling letters turns a caption track into texture you cannot restyle.