You can now upscale videos using an experimental feature supported by Microsoft Edge Canary. Video Super Resolution (VSR) boosts video resolution to up to 720p by putting machine learning, artificial intelligence, and your computer's GPU to use.
One in three videos played on Microsoft Edge have a resolution of 480p or below, as detailed in the company's news post. The viewing experience on the whole is expected to upgrade by upscaling the videos, which should make text easier to see.
VSR has considerably demanding system requirements. Though it is not necessary for the greatest GPUs to be available, but a minimal requirement of AMD RX5700 or an NVIDIA RTX 20-series GPU is certainly needed.
This is not the first time that Edge users have received a video upscaling capability. Microsoft previously unveiled Clarity Boost spatial upscaling for Xbox Cloud Gaming back in June last year with the goal of enhancing the clarity and sharpness of Xbox games streaming on the Edge browser.
However, Microsoft VSR tech is nothing so special in this regard. Nvidia had offered an early version of RTX Super Resolution (RTX VSR), the company's very own AI upscaling tech, on Shield TV devices since 2019. Intel is also working on a video upscaling capability for Chromium-based browsers. While RTX Super Resolution can only be used on computers with GeForce RTX 40- and 30-series GPUs, it has recently been added to the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers. Super Resolution may result in a "slight reduction in performance" if used while playing a game or using creative software that depends on the GPU, according to Nvidia. Microsoft has not highlighted any negative effects on VSR performance.