How to Enable and Use Video Super Resolution in Microsoft Edge to Upscale Web Videos

Streaming video on the web frequently encounters bandwidth limitations, network throttling, or older archival media that forces playback into grainy 480p or 720p resolutions. On high-resolution 1440p and 4K desktop displays, low-resolution streams can appear severely blurred, blocky, and degraded by compression artifacts. Microsoft Edge addresses this with Video Super Resolution (VSR)—an advanced machine learning rendering pipeline that leverages your system’s graphics processing unit (GPU) to upscale, sharpen, and denoise streaming video in real time.

How Video Super Resolution Works in Microsoft Edge

Unlike simple bicubic or bilinear smoothing filters that merely stretch pixels, Video Super Resolution applies hardware-accelerated deep learning algorithms. The browser analyzes the incoming video stream frame by frame, removes blocky MPEG compression artifacts, interpolates lost edge definitions, and reconstructs crisp details before presenting the frame on your monitor. Because the computation occurs directly on local GPU tensor or compute cores, super-resolved video enhances visual fidelity without consuming additional network bandwidth.

Hardware and Software Prerequisites

Because real-time neural upscaling demands significant computational throughput, Video Super Resolution requires specific discrete or modern integrated graphics hardware:

• NVIDIA Graphics: GeForce RTX 20-series, 30-series, 40-series, or newer RTX desktop and mobile GPUs.
• AMD Graphics: Radeon RX 5700 through RX 7000-series or newer RDNA-based discrete graphics cards.
• Intel Graphics: Intel Arc dedicated GPUs or recent 13th/14th Gen Intel Core processors equipped with integrated Iris Xe/Intel Graphics.
• System Power State: Laptops must be plugged into AC mains power; VSR is automatically suppressed on battery to prevent excessive power drain.
• Supported Resolutions: The video must have a source resolution lower than 720p (at least 192p tall, up to 720p) and cannot be protected by hardware Digital Rights Management (such as Widevine L1 on Netflix or Disney+).

Enabling Video Super Resolution in Edge Settings and Flags

While supported hardware automatically enables the feature in recent stable releases, you can force activation or fine-tune its rendering via Edge experimental flags:

1. Launch Microsoft Edge on your Windows PC.
2. Type edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution into the address bar and press Enter.
3. Locate the flag titled Edge Video Super Resolution.
4. Click the dropdown menu next to the entry and switch it from Default to Enabled.
5. Click the Restart button at the bottom-right corner to relaunch Microsoft Edge with the new flag active.

Checking and Toggling Video Enhancement During Playback

Once enabled, Edge provides a clear visual indicator whenever Super Resolution enhances an active web stream:

1. Navigate to a video streaming website (such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitch).
2. Play a video and manually set its playback resolution to 480p or 720p to test the upscaler.
3. Observe the Edge address bar (omnibox). When VSR engages, a small HD icon appears on the right side of the address bar.
4. Click the HD icon to view the enhancement modal:
   • The badge confirms whether Video Super Resolution is actively upscaling the stream.
   • You can toggle the feature on or off to inspect immediate before-and-after differences in line clarity and facial definition.

Optimising Windows Graphics Settings for Maximum Upscaling Performance

On laptops or desktop rigs featuring hybrid dual-GPU setups (an integrated Intel/AMD chip alongside a discrete NVIDIA or AMD GPU), Windows might inadvertently run Edge on the low-power integrated chip, preventing VSR from triggering:

1. Open the Windows Settings app (press Win + I).
2. Navigate to System > Display > Graphics.
3. Scroll down to the list of installed applications and click Microsoft Edge (if absent, click Browse and add msedge.exe from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application).
4. Click Options.
5. Select High performance (which explicitly assigns your discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX or AMD Radeon GPU).
6. Click Save and restart your browser.