PowerDirector

7 Best AI Video Upscalers to Enhance Video Quality in 2024

Last Updated on Sep. 4, 2024 – by David Morgan
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PowerDirector Interface
PowerDirector Interface

Even with the advanced digital technology and high-powered cameras of today, most videos are not fit for purpose right out of the gate. Even big-budget Hollywood productions need an AI video enhancer to make the final movie look and sound perfect.

Video upscalers allow you to make color corrections, fix imperfections, and improve your clip’s quality. However, choosing the best AI video enhancer can be challenging.

This article ranks the best AI video enhancers for Windows, Mac, and Linux. We’ve listed the pros and cons, key features, prices, and other helpful info to guide you in your search for the best video upscaler for your needs.

7 Best AI Video Enhancers & Upscalers in 2024

  1. PowerDirector (Windows/Mac)
  2. PowerDirector App (Android/iOS)
  3. Vivid Glam (iOS)
  4. Topaz Video AI (Windows/Mac)
  5. AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI (Windows/Mac)
  6. HitPaw Video Enhancer (Windows/Mac)
  7. Adobe Premiere Pro (Windows/Mac)

1. PowerDirector

PowerDirector 365 - Professional Video Editing Tools, Designed for all Creators

Best For: Video editing and enhancements for any skill level


The best AI video enhancer on our list is PowerDirector. No matter your video editing experience, you can quickly improve the look and quality of your videos. From basic to advanced color correction and audio editing to powerful AI restoration tools, PowerDirector has all the features you need to create the best-looking and sounding videos.

Fix your video's appearance with lighting adjustments, video denoise, and white balance. You can automatically match color shot-by-shot with Color Match and use the HDR Effect to highlight details. Steady shaky handheld or action sports footage with video stabilization and apply lens corrections to common imperfections. Make your audio crisp and pristine with audio denoise, wind removal, dereverb, and the new AI Restoration Assistant.

PowerDirector 365 - Professional Video Editing Tools, Designed for all Creators

Once your footage looks and sounds the way you intended, you can make it even better with visual effects, color grading, titles, and transitions. Or take your videos to the next level by adding pan/zoom effects or swapping dull skies for beautiful sunsets and starry vistas with AI Sky Replacement. With PowerDirector's enhancement tools, your footage will look better than anything you could shoot in real life. 

PowerDirector isn't just a video quality enhancer. It has all the video editing tools and effects you need to create engaging videos. Plus, it has compatibility with all standard video formats and lets you upload directly to social media to save time. With PowerDirector, you can experience state-of-the-art AI capabilities for video/audio enhancements with NVIDIA broadcast support. Whether you need to fix action cam and drone footage, restore old videos, match uneven lighting, enhance poor audio, or upscale videos to look as professional as they can be, PowerDirector has you covered.


Pros
  • Filled with advanced features for professionals
  • Intuitive interface that is easy to learn for beginners
  • Wide format support including 360-degree and 3D video
Cons
  • Some tools are Windows-only

Key Features:

  1. Fix action cam footage with video stabilization and lens corrections
  2. Produce crystal-clear speech with AI Audio Enhancements
  3. Remove unwanted grain and background noise with video/audio denoise
  4. Enhance colors with the Split Toning tool for a dramatic look

Compatibility: Windows, Mac


PCMag Rating: 5/5


Video Enhancement Tools: 5/5


Price: Free
*Premium version available for a 30-day free trial, then $4.58/month


Click the link below to download PowerDirector for free today to enhance video quality and add a professional touch to your videos. 


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2. PowerDirector App

PowerDirector App | Cinematic Style Editing at Your Fingertips

Best For: Video editing & enhancement on mobile


PowerDirector is the best application to improve the quality of your videos. The app includes many tools to enhance and restore image quality, improve brightness, contrast, light and saturation, and stabilize your clips.

The app offers a function to automatically optimize the colors of a clip instantly, and this function is particularly useful for restoring old videos or improving clips shot in poor lighting conditions.

PowerDirector App | Cinematic Style Editing at Your Fingertips

A wide range of tools help improve the overall quality of your mobile edits, removing blur and noise from your clips while providing transitions, effects, titles and other animations, as well as stabilizing shaky videos.

PowerDirector supports ultra HD videos and enables 4K video exports for the highest possible quality. Adjust sliders before downloading your edits to change resolution, bitrate, and frame rate for a clear, crisp video.


Pros
  • Available for free on iOS and Android
  • Intuitive, easy to use
  • Various one-click AI functions
  • User friendly UI
Cons
  • • Some tools are premium

Key Features:

  1. Adjust a shaky video to reduce movement with the stabilizer tool
  2. Automatically correct the color of your video to enhance its quality
  3. Use frame interpolation to make your video smoother
  4. Remove fuzziness and graininess from your videos with the Denoise tool

Compatibility: iOS and Android


Techradar Rating Rating: 4/5


Video Enhancement Tools: 5/5


Price: Free
*Premium features available from $34.99/year


Download the app for free from App Store or Google Play to effortlessly enhance your video content!


3. Vivid Glam

Vivid Glam App

Best For: Correcting video coloring and edit face and body shape


Vivid Glam is a AI video editing app that dramatically improves the quality of your videos using powerful AI video enhancement, AI color correction, and stylish filters. allowing you to boost the quality of a video in just a few clicks.

Vivid Glam App

Once you improve the quality of the video, you can play with several helpful retouching and editing tools, including Face Reshape and Body Reshape. These tools allow you to adjust your proportions, helping you look your best.

Enjoy a range of facial attributes, including facial slimming, eye enlargement, nose refinement, mouth adjustments, and many more.

Vivid Glam App

Along with being able to edit your body, you can also add cool effects. Body effects highlight your body as it moves, giving an exciting visual pop to your videos. Different color and lighting effects can enhance your look as you move, pose, and dance.


Pros
  • Modern, intuitive and innovative
  • Unique portrait and video selfie tools
  • Impressive AI effects for social media
Cons
  • Not available on Android devices

Key Features:

  1. AI video enhancement tools
  2. Automatic color correction
  3. A range of stylish filters to change the mood

Compatibility: iOS


Video Enhancement Tools: 5/5


Price: Free
*Premium features available from $29.99/year


Download now to enhance and retouch any face in your videos!


4. Topaz Video AI

Topaz Labs Video Enhance AI Interface

Best For: Slow-motion


Video AI from Topaz Labs is one of the best AI video enhancers for slow-motion effects. While traditional time interpolation causes stuttering, the technicians at Topaz Labs seamlessly generate new frames that are indistinguishable from frames captured in-camera. The result is a natural and stutter-free slow-motion effect. 

Upscale video from SD to HD, and HD to 4K, 8K, or even 16K without sacrificing quality. This video upscaler can remove noise and grain and convert different frame rates while bringing out crisp detail in your shots with minimal flickering. 

Topaz Video AI is very similar to AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI, and in our last version of this article, we felt AVCLabs came out on top. However, since our last round of testing, AVClabs has stayed pretty much the same while Topaz Video AI has made many improvements. First and foremost is the ability to upscale video to 16K - making it the first AI video enhancer we’ve seen to achieve this goal. Second, it has added powerful facial recognition technology, on par with that of AVCLabs and PowerDirector. Finally, it has made UI and performance improvements, including faster processing time (extremely slow processing was an issue in previous versions), and side-by-side video comparison. However, it still takes much longer to process videos than most of the AI video enhancers on our list, and we think the price and time commitment make it a better option for Hollywood films and professionals than for personal projects or social media posts. 


Pros
  • Powerful video restoration with no artifacts up to 16K
  • Seamlessly slow down video by 2,000%
Cons
  • High system requirements
  • No video editing tools

Key Features:

  1. Use Gaia CG or Theia to enhance graphics and upscale cartoons/CGI
  2. Deinterlace footage with powerful AI tools
  3. Fill in details from multiple frames for smoother panning

Compatibility: Windows, Mac


Shotkit Rating: 4.7/5


Video Enhancement Tools: 5/5


Price: $299



5. AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI

AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI Interface

Image from avclabs.


Best For: Facial recognition


AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI is one of the best AI video enhancers for its facial recognition features. AVCLabs uses a combination of facial recognition and motion tracking to deblur and enhance facial details on one face in a shot or multiple faces, whether moving or standing still. 

The automated multi-frame super-resolution will upscale video from SD to HD, and from HD to UHD 4K or 8K. Processed videos remain uncompressed, while unwanted video parts are eliminated for a smoother, crisper, more natural look. 

AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI has automatic tools for beginners to upscale video resolution without any quality loss. It’s #2 on our list of AI video enhancers because it does not have video editing tools, and its price is too high for most people to afford both this software and a video editor.  


Pros
  • Easy to navigate, and all tools are 100% automatic
  • Fast processing thanks to ONNX Runtime
Cons
  • High system requirements 
  • No video editing tools

Key Features:

  1. Automatically reduce grain with AI Video Denoise 
  2. Use facial recognition to blur faces for privacy
  3. Colorize black and white videos naturally

Compatibility: Windows, Mac


Trustpilot Rating: 4.6/5


Video Enhancement Tools: 5/5


Price: $39.95/month, $119.95/year, or $299.90 for a perpetual license



6. HitPaw Video Enhancer

HitPaw Video Enhancer Interface

Best For: Enhancing faces


HitPaw Video Enhancer has 7 AI Models that beginners can apply in one click, including Denoise, Animation, Colorize, Face, and Repair.We think it’s one of the best software to upscale video for faces, because the Face Model repairs and sharpens facial details, revealing individual eyelashes and strands of hair. 

With this video upscaler, you can convert low-res video up to 1080p or 4K and convert SD to HD. You can even upscale videos from 4K to 8K and enlarge videos up to 8 times without quality loss.

HitPaw Video Enhancer makes it easy to upscale videos in only 3 steps. However, you must choose only one AI model per video, and there are no manual adjustments. It also costs more than any of the AI video enhancers on this list. We moved it above Premiere Pro and Ashampoo on our updated list due to crisper video quality and glowing reviews for HitPaw’s customer service.  


Pros
  • Beginner-friendly, one-click AI video enhancer
  • Unique AI models for faces and animation 
Cons
  • No manual adjustments and only 1 AI model per video  
  • No video editing tools, yet it is the priciest video upscaler on our list

Key Features:

  1. Upscale multiple videos at once with batch processing 
  2. Add realistic colors to black-and-white videos
  3. Restore clarity in 2D and 3D cartoons

Compatibility: Windows, Mac


Trustpilot Rating: 4.2/5


Video Enhancement Tools: 4.5/5


Price: Mac: $69.99/month, $109.99/year or $349.99 for a Lifetime License

Windows: $42.99/month, $99.99/year or $349.99 for a Lifetime License



7. Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro Interface

Best For: Professional video editors


Adobe Premiere Pro is an AI video enhancer for professionals that supports almost all video formats, and it is suitable for editing any video content. Filmmakers and editors have used this software to make various popular movies and TV shows, including Mindhunter, Gone Girl, and Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Premiere Pro features a nonlinear editing platform with Lumetri Color Tool, providing unlimited color manipulation. Using this tool, you can adjust your clip’s exposure, contrast, shadows, and white balance, and you can trigger them at any point in the clip using keyframes.It also comes with audio editing tools to enhance dialogue and remove background noise.

Premiere Pro has a steep learning curve and isn’t the best AI video enhancer for beginners. Although Premiere Pro and PowerDirector are both powerful video quality enhancers and video editors rolled into one, beginner-friendliness and affordability put PowerDirector on top.  


Pros
  • Pro-level color correction with automatic and manual color adjustments
  • GPU acceleration, fast rendering, and improved performance on M1/M2 Macs
Cons
  • A complex interface could be overwhelming for new users
  • A high monthly fee that gets higher if you need After Effects for more upscaling tools 

Key Features:

  1. Use AI audio tools such as Sound Match to equalize your mix 
  2. Quickly create custom animated titles with motion graphics templates
  3. Smooth shaky footage with the Warp Stabilize feature

Compatibility: Windows, Mac


PCMag Rating: 4.5/5


Video Enhancement Tools: 4.5/5


Price: $22.99/month or $59.99/month as part of Creative Cloud


Best AI Video Enhancer Comparison Chart

Product Best For Notable Feature Price Download Link
PowerDirector Video editing and enhancements for any skill level Intuitive color correction tools including white balance, color match, automatic color enhancement, and manual color adjustments Free; Premium: $4.58/month
FreeDownload
Secure Download
PowerDirector App Video editing & enhancement on mobile Reduce smovement of shaky video, auto color correction, denoise tool Free; Premium: $34.99/year
FreeDownload
Secure Download
Vivid Glam Correcting video coloring and edit face and body shape AI video enhancement, AI color correction, and stylish filters Free; Premium: $29.99/year Download
Topaz Video AI Slow motion Slow down videos by 2,000% without stutter and upscale to 16K losslessly $299 Download
AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI Facial recognition Deblurs and precisely enhances moving faces with motion-tracking $299.90 or $39.95/month $119.95/year Download
HitPaw Video Enhancer Enhancing faces An exclusive animation AI model repairs and restores cartoons Mac: $349.99 or $69.99/month $109.99/year
Windows: $349.99 or $42.99/month $99.99/year
Download
Adobe Premiere Pro Professional video editors The Lumetri Color Tool provides advanced color manipulation $22.99/month Download

PowerDirector vs

Best For

Video editing and enhancements for any skill level

-

Notable Feature

Intuitive color correction tools including white balance, color match, automatic color enhancement, and manual color adjustments

-

Price

Free; Premium: $4.58/month

-

How to Choose the Best AI Video Enhancer

Choosing the best AI video enhancer depends on several different factors. We outline those factors below to help you choose the right tool for your needs. 

Price

In our list, we have options to cover a range of budgets, so you can find what you need without breaking the bank. 

Ease of Use 

We’ve also found the best AI video enhancers to suit a range of skill levels, from first-time users to editing professionals. Some of our video upscalers offer one-click solutions for beginners, while others have manual adjustments so you can enhance video quality exactly the way you want.   

Video Editing Tools

Some AI video enhancers are also fully-featured video editors, some offer only basic editing tools, and others exist only to upscale videos. If you are an influencer, content creator, or filmmaker, it makes sense to get a multifunctional video quality enhancer. 

How We Test the Best AI Video Enhancers

We’ve tested a large selection of AI video enhancers so you don’t have to. These are the steps we followed to help us review and rank video upscalers effectively and without bias. 

Choose Test Videos

To properly test AI video enhancers, we needed low-quality videos that could use upscaling. We found videos of different quality levels, including low-resolution footage, blurry videos with noise, compressed videos, clips with unintelligible audio, and shaky footage. This helped us assess the AI video enhancer’s ability to handle diverse issues.

Upscale Videos

We uploaded the same group of test videos into each AI video enhancer. Then we used all the available tools to get the highest resolution possible. We compared the results against the original, unedited videos, and compared the upscaled videos against one another. Next, we reverted to the original videos and tried each tool independently. That way, we were able to deduce if a video upscaler was better in one area over another (for example, one program offered excellent stabilization, but the color enhancements were poor).

Evaluate Videos

After our hands-on tests were conducted, we recorded the comparisons and ranked the software. Here are some things we look for to make our decisions:

  • Check that the noise reduction features result in sharper, clearer visuals without introducing artificial artifacts.
  • Assess if the stabilization smooths out shaky footage without creating unnatural jitters or warping the image.
  • Evaluate if the color correction enhances the visuals without creating unrealistic saturation or color shifts
  • Ensure the software preserves fine details or textures.
  • For programs with audio enhancements, make sure the audio is crisp and easier to hear than in the original video

Rate Overall Experience

Many of the AI video enhancers on our list produced similar results. Therefore, we also made notes on the overall experience when using a product. We asked these questions: Was the user interface intuitive? Were the tools easy enough for a beginner? Were there automatic tools and manual adjustments available? How long did it take to process the videos? Did the software run smoothly without lags or glitches? We also read online reviews to see if there were common issues amongst other users that we didn’t come across.

What is the Best AI Video Enhancer?

Poor-quality videos do not perform well on social media. Every content creator should understand how to make videos look and sound their very best. Even if you only post videos for fun on Facebook and YouTube, a video upscaler will help make your footage more enjoyable for friends and family to watch.

If you're looking for the best AI video enhancer, look no further than PowerDirector. This video quality enhancer includes color and audio correction, restoration tools, and sky replacement. PowerDirector also offers video editing features like motion tracking, 3D editing, and chroma key. It has all the functionality you might need as a video content creator.  

Download the best AI video enhancer for free by clicking the link below and see how great your videos can look and sound.

Best Software to Upscale Video Quality FAQ

1. What is a video upscaler?

A video upscaler uses a collection of editing tasks to improve video quality and make it more engaging to viewers. In most cases, video upscalers aim to accurately portray subjects’ color and appearance despite suboptimal environmental conditions. For example, a clip you capture early in the morning might have a color imbalance, with most elements appearing in various shades of blue.

Professional video editors feature unique and AI-based video quality enhancer tools such as sky replacement and auto-adjustments to optimize your clip’s white balance, contrast, and exposure.

2. How can I improve the quality of a video?

Video editing software, such as PowerDirector, come with several different methods to improve video quality. Suppose your clip is too dark or bright, or the video has a color imbalance. In this case, you can enhance the video using color correction tools. If your video is grainy or pixelated, you can use a video denoiser. And if you took action camera footage, you can use a video stabilizer to fix shaky video, and lens correction to get rid of the common fish-eye effect. 

3. What features should I look for in a video upscaler?

The top ten features you should look for in a video upscaler are

  1. Video denoise tools
  2. A user-friendly interface
  3. Video stabilization
  4. Lens correction 
  5. An intuitive color grading tool
  6. Automatic color match
  7. Audio restoration tools
  8. HDR effect
  9. Stock footage and effects libraries
  10. Direct social media uploading
  11. Support for all file formats

If you’re looking for an AI video enhancer that checks all of these boxes, we recommend PowerDirector.

4. What is the best video quality enhancer?

PowerDirector is the best video quality enhancer. It has every possible tool to upscale videos including color correction, video stabilization, video denoise, lens corrections, color match, lighting adjustment, and more. It’s also beginner-friendly, affordable, and has both automatic and manual video enhancement tools for any level of editor.

5. Can you enhance video quality free?

With PowerDirector Essential, you can improve video quality for free. Use all the premium features found in PowerDirector 365 for free for 30 days, then continue using the free version as long as you wish.

6. Where can I enhance videos?

Enhance video quality with PowerDirector, the top AI video enhancer available today. Video editors often have the tools you need to enhance videos in a variety of ways.

7. How can I make a video less blurry?

Use PowerDirector to fix a blurry video by using the Video Stabilizer tool. It includes an adjustment slider so you can choose an exact level of clarity.

8. How do I convert low-quality video to HD on PC?

PowerDirector is the best AI video enhancer that will allow you to convert low-quality video to HD. You can also use a video converter.

9. Can we convert low-quality video to high-quality?

Yes, using a video upscaler such as PowerDirector, you can improve video quality. PowerDirector is the best AI video enhancer because you can make colors more true-to-life and remove grain, pixelization, blur, and more. You can even enhance audio by removing background noise and wind.

10. Can 1080p be upscaled to 4K?

You can upscale video using PowerDirector’s video enhancer tools outlined in this article. When you are done making video enhancements, click Export. Under Profile name/Quality, you can choose 4K. If you want to choose a specific frame rate and resolution, you can hit the +, then Video, and choose the video profile settings you want. 

11. Is there a free video upscaler?

Yes. PowerDirector Essential is our pick for the best AI video enhancer you can get for free.

12. How can I increase the quality of a video?

Enhance video quality usingPowerDirector. Click the link below to download the software, then import your video. Use the Fix/Enhance tab to perform tasks such as video stabilization, color enhancements, video denoise, wind removal, lens corrections, and white balance.

13. Can videos be upscaled?

Yes, using PowerDirector, the best AI video enhancer. PowerDirector is a video editor that can upscale videos in a variety of ways.

14. What is the best free 4k upscaler?

PowerDirector is a powerful AI video enhancer and the best free video upscaler for 4k. Try PowerDirector’s free version for as long as you want, and get all the premium tools to enhance video quality for free for 30 days.

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