AI image and video upscaling to 4K in 1 workflow | LetsEnhance 2026
Most AI image generators create visuals that look good on screen but fall apart when you zoom in. Same goes for video generators: they produce impressive motion but cap out at 720p or 1080p.
If you want assets that are actually usable for print, large screens, or professional delivery, resolution becomes the bottleneck.
This guide walks through a single LetsEnhance workflow for both problems:
• upscaling images to 4K with Prime while keeping texture intact
• upscaling AI-generated video to real 4K without stretched pixels.
The goal isn't to change how your content looks. The goal is to make it usable.
Key takeaways
- Most AI images need upscaling before print or close inspection
- Most AI videos need upscaling before publishing or client use
- Image and video upscaling solve different problems and require different models
- Prime focuses on texture and identity preservation in photos
- Video upscaler focuses on reconstructing real detail in motion
- One workflow is simpler than juggling multiple tools
Upscale images to 4K while keeping details and texture intact
Many AI upscalers trade texture and details for sharpness. As a result, skin turns waxy, fabric loses grain and food looks plastic. At first glance it looks “good,” but as soon as you zoom in, it stops looking like a real photograph.
Most image upscaling tools fail because of:
- over-smoothing that removes natural imperfections
- aggressive sharpening that creates halos and noise
- identity shift where faces subtly change
This becomes extra important when you upscale AI-edited images, where realism is already fragile.
LetsEnhance’s Prime model is designed for one specific job: increasing resolution without destroying texture. It doesn't stylize or reinterpret the image. It increases clarity while keeping the image believable.
4K portrait upscaling that preserved identity
Upscaling portraits is where most tools break.
With Prime, pores stay visible, wrinkles aren't erased and facial proportions remain stable. The result looks like a higher-resolution photograph, not a retouched version of the person.
In the example below, we used the LetsEnhance AI image Chat Editor to generate a studio-style portrait with a simple prompt. The image already looks good, but when you inspect it closely, skin texture and fine details are still soft.
Prompt we used: Luxury fashion editorial, Valentine-inspired couture. Same female model as face reference, strict identity preservation. Structured red fashion dress with sculptural fabric details. Model holding a single red rose near the face, eyes gently closed. Soft studio lighting, elegant and calm atmosphere. Ultra-realistic skin texture, high-end magazine photography. No text, no branding, no face modification.
What we did was taking the edited image and upscaling it to 4x to get a sharp 4K image. As a result, skin texture is more defined, lips look natural, and fine details hold up under zoom.
Have a look at the comparison below to see the difference.
This workflow is especially useful for AI-generated portraits that need to look real, editorial and fashion imagery as well as client-facing visuals where identity matters.
Product photography for Ecommerce
Upscaling product images with texts are a completely different story.
When you upscale with the wrong model, text becomes muddy, logos warp and surfaces look synthetic. This is critical for ecommerce, where product images directly affect trust and conversion.
But as long as there are dedicated AI upscaling tools, you don't have to worry about low-quality images. Let's take a look at how we upscaled this low-quality perfume image to 4x using Prime.
The difference is obvious. On the left, the label text is barely readable. On the right, the text becomes clear, edges stay crisp, and the surface of the bottle still looks realistic.
Food photography that still looks edible
Food is unforgiving.
If texture is wrong, the image immediately looks artificial. And if it looks artificial, it doesn't trigger appetite. Smooth buns, flat sauces, or plastic highlights break the illusion instantly.
In the example below, we challenged the model to upscale a low-quality burger photo without losing texture. After upscaling with Prime, the bun keeps its crumb structure, the meat looks fibrous, and sauces retain natural variation.
The image still looks like food but it's just sharper. This matters especially for restaurant menus, delivery apps, food ads and social media content.
Upscale any image to 4K print-ready with LetsEnhance
Upscaling is often only half the job. Many users also need print-ready output. If you also need to set print-specific dimensions and export at 300 DPI and higher, you can do so from the Width & Height section. If you don't want to calculate DPI manually, you can use built-in printing presets for posters, photos, and international paper formats.
If your goal isn't realism but creative transformation or digital art upscaling, LetsEnhance offers 7 different AI upscalers optimized for different use cases. You can check out more about each model in the website.
Step by step for upscale an image to 4K
- Upload your image to LetsEnhance. JPG, PNG, and WebP are supported up to 50 MB.
- Leave Prime selected as the default upscaler.
- Choose your target size, from 1× to 16×.
- Click Enhance and download the result once it is ready.
If your image includes faces, fabric, food, or fine texture, this workflow is usually the safest choice.
Upscaling AI video to 4K
Image upscaling solves only half the problem. But what if you also need video upscaling?
AI video generators produce impressive clips, but most of them stop at 720p or 1080p. Simply stretching the video in an editor doesn't add detail. You get bigger pixels, not more information.
Video upscaling is harder because of two constraints: first, temporal consistency across frames and second, believable texture in motion.
If you're stuck between tools either introduce flicker or just enlarge frames, consider using LetsEnhance's video upscaler. It reconstructs detail frame by frame while keeping motion stable.
After processing, you typically see cleaner edges without harsh sharpening, more believable texture in surfaces and environments and footage that holds up on larger screens. At the end of the day, the goal is to make the video usable, not make it look completely different.
Video upscaling improves detail while keeping motion stable.
Step by step for upscaling a video to 4K
- Open the video upscaler workspace in LetsEnhance
- Upload a video file under 100 MB
- Select your target resolution, from HD to 4K, and choose the export format (.mp4, .webm, .mov).
- Click Upscale and download once processing is complete.
Why choose LetsEnhance
One workflow instead of many tools
Most creators and teams end up stitching together workflows they never planned to maintain. One tool for AI image generation. Another for image upscaling. A separate editor for print prep. A completely different product for video upscaling.
Each step introduces compression, format mismatches, and quality loss.
LetsEnhance is built to handle the full resolution step in one place. You can upscale images to 4K, prepare them for print, generate or enhance video, and upscale that video to 4K without exporting and re-importing between tools.
The result is fewer handoffs, fewer mistakes, and more consistent output quality across images and video.
4K results with simple steps
Upscaling to 4K often sounds simple, but in practice it comes with friction. You have to calculate target dimensions. You have to manage DPI for print. You have to guess which settings will avoid artifacts.
LetsEnhance removes most of that overhead. For images, you select your target size and enhance. For print, you can use built-in presets instead of manual DPI math. For video, you select the output resolution and export format, and the system handles the rest.
The platform is designed so that 4K output is the default outcome, not a technical exercise.
Dedicated AI tools for different needs
Most “AI upscalers” are one-model tools. They apply the same enhancement logic to portraits, product labels, low-light photos, illustrations, and damaged scans. That is why results are inconsistent. Different inputs fail in different ways.
LetsEnhance isn't a one-size-fits-all upscaler. It offers seven distinct upscaling models, each tuned for a specific type of image and a specific failure mode.
Here’s short about each model:
- Prime: best default for realistic photos where texture matters, especially faces, skin, fabric, food, and product surfaces.
- Gentle: best when you need clean enlargement with minimal changes, often useful for detail-sensitive images like small text or packaging.
- Balanced: general-purpose enhancement for everyday photos when you want a moderate boost without pushing too far.
- Strong: for blurry or low-quality inputs where you need more aggressive reconstruction.
- Ultra: for the toughest sources and creative restoration, when the input is very degraded and you accept a higher chance of AI “reinterpretation.”
- Digital art: for illustrations, anime, and non-photographic artwork where photo-focused models can introduce artifacts.
- Old photo: for faded or damaged scans and vintage photos, focused on restoration before you upscale further.
Scales from single images to production workflows
LetsEnhance works when you are enhancing one image, and it still works when you need to process a catalog.
For web workflows, it supports batch processing up to 20 images at once. If you need to scale beyond manual uploads, you can move the same logic into an automated pipeline through the Claid.ai API.
That is the clean path for teams that process images at volume and want consistent outputs across thousands of assets, without making upscaling a hands-on step.
Try now
If you haven't already, create an account on LetsEnhance and get 10 free credits to test image upscaling with Prime.
Note that video upscaling is a paid feature, with cost calculated based on resolution and duration. Short clips are affordable, and pricing scales predictably.
FAQ
What is AI upscaling and how does it actually work?
AI upscaling increases resolution by reconstructing detail instead of stretching pixels. Modern models analyze patterns, textures, and structures in the image or video and generate higher-resolution versions that look natural.
This is fundamentally different from traditional upscaling methods like bicubic interpolation, which only enlarge existing pixels.
Can AI really upscale images to 4K without making them look fake?
Yes, but only if the model is tuned for realism.
Many AI upscalers prioritize sharpness and remove natural imperfections. This creates smooth, artificial-looking results. LetsEnhance offers Prime upscaler that's designed to preserve texture and identity. This is why pores, fabric grain, and surface details remain visible after upscaling.
What is the best AI upscaler for portraits?
For portraits, the most important factors are identity preservation and skin texture.
Prime upscaler inside LetsEnhance is optimized to avoid over-smoothing and facial distortion. It increases clarity while keeping the person recognizable, which makes it suitable for professional portraits, editorial images, and AI-generated faces that need to look real.
Can I upscale AI-generated images for print?
Yes. AI-generated images are often too small or soft for print.
LetsEnhance allows you to upscale images to 4K and beyond, set print dimensions, and export at 300 DPI or higher. Built-in print presets help avoid manual size and DPI calculations.
Is AI upscaling good for ecommerce product images?
High-quality product images directly affect trust and conversion. If you have low-quality source files, AI upscaling is what you need.
Dedicated AI upscalers such as Prime, preserve text, labels, and material texture, which is critical for ecommerce. Logos remain readable, edges stay clean, and surfaces don't become synthetic or noisy.
What is the difference between image upscaling and video upscaling?
Image upscaling focuses on spatial detail in a single frame. Video upscaling must also maintain temporal consistency across frames.
Simple video upscaling methods often introduce flicker or shimmering. LetsEnhance uses diffusion-based processing to reconstruct detail while keeping motion stable from frame to frame.
Can I upscale videos from AI tools like Sora, Runway, or Kling?
Yes. LetsEnhance's video upscaler is designed specifically for AI-generated clips from tools such as Sora, Runway, Kling, Veo, and similar platforms.
These clips are usually short and soft, which makes them good candidates for diffusion-based upscaling to 4K.
Does video upscaling change the look or style of my clip?
No. The goal isn't to stylize or reinterpret the video.
The video upscaler focuses on resolution and texture. It improves clarity and detail so the clip holds up on larger screens, while keeping the original look intact.
Do I need design or technical skills to use LetsEnhance?
No. LetsEnhance is designed for simple, outcome-focused workflows.
Upload your image or video, select 4K, and download the result. The platform handles the technical complexity in the background.