🚀 What's New

🛠️ Backend updates

• Updated to Python 3.14 (+5% overall performance)
• Updated AI engine to version 1.24.4 (bugfixes and better AI performance)

🧠 Updated AI models

• All AI models updated with newer tools for better efficiency
• Note: Higher-end hardware may experience even greater performance gains
• Performance Benchmarks (tested on RX 6600 + Ryzen 5600)
  • LVAx2: +5% speedup
  • MSharpx4: +10% speedup
  • Other AI models: +3%

🎨 UI Changes

🖥️ Smart Backend Detection

• The app title now dynamically displays the AI engine version and backend
• DirectML detected: (+ DirectML) GPU acceleration is active for maximum performance
• No DirectML detected: (+ CPU) GPU acceleration is disabled

🗯️ Balloon messagebox

• Modified the app messagebox interface with a new, custom-styled balloon notification

🩹 Bugfix / Improvements

🎬 Video upscaling

• Video encoding is now 10% faster
• The app now automatically switches to H.264 if the GPU does not support the chosen codec
• Increased default video bitrate to 50 Mbps for improved visual fidelity
• Redesigned frame management for better stability and speed

⚙️ General

• Under-the-hood bug fixes and extensive code cleanup
• Updated all dependencies and libraries for better stability and compatibility

🛡️ VirusTotal

• QualityScaler 2026.2 virustotal analysis

▼ NEW

New versioning convention
⊡ QualityScaler now follows a [year.version] format
⊡ For example, 2026.1 represents the first release of 2026

New AI models
⊡ LVAx2: ultra-fast model for upscaling with light sharpening and denoising. Optimized for live-action videos
⊡ MSharpx4: advanced model focused on high-definition sharpening. Ideal for professional photography

App UI scaling
⊡ Added the ability to zoom the interface in and out (from 50% to 175%)
⊡ Scaling is relative to Windows UI settings and your preference is automatically saved

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

Image upscaling improvements
⊡ Fixed a bug where the AI model reloaded for every single image
⊡ This significantly improves performance when processing multiple files

Video upscaling improvements
⊡ Optimized the video pipeline for better stability, especially on entry-level hardware
⊡ Increased default output bitrate from 12k to 20k for superior video quality
⊡ Video frames are now extracted at maximum quality settings
⊡ Updatef FFMPEG to version 8.0.1, with better encoding performance

General improvements
⊡ Under-the-hood bug fixes and code cleanup
⊡ Updated all dependencies and libraries for better stability and compatibility
⊡ Updated all AI models with latest tools

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/98aae8899fa25e109d7c6b8ef5206d7d95b21fe93595b8ddbb88c30f4d31d422

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

General improvements
⊡ Various bug fixes and code cleanup
⊡ Updated dependencies for improved stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/0c4a4e37524ae6c90ddea34b7f23969481ef38c6a4c59ec8a44f5a859c582c2b?nocache=1

▼ ROAD TO 5.0
Get ready! I am preparing QualityScaler 5.0.
Expect a variety of exciting new features, including powerful new AI models, several fresh functionalities, and major library overhauls that will bring superior stability across the board.

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

General improvements
⊡ Fixed an issue with upscaled video frame loss, particularly on very fast PCs or when using AI multithreading with values >4
⊡ Optimised input / output scale system, now faster and less resource-intensive
⊡ Various bug fixes and code cleanup
⊡ Updated dependencies for improved stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/b5619573df3b4749db6f00219bee642b1cc208da949034021ca77bdb22be227e

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

Video upscaling improvements
⊡ Improved memory management for video upscaling
⊡ Fixed a disk I/O bottleneck during frame saving, leading to significant performance improvements
⊡ Performance improved by ≈25% on test PC [ AMD RX6600 + Ryzen 5600 + AI Multithreading: 8 ]
⊡ Performance gains on more powerful PCs may range up to ≈100%

General improvements
⊡ Fixed an issue that could result in frame over-extraction, in particular with Variable Frame Rate (VFR) videos
⊡ Fixed a bug that prevented the correct release of memory when an upscaling process was stopped
⊡ AI engine updated to version 1.23.0
⊡ Various bug fixes and code cleanup
⊡ Updated dependencies for improved stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/dc9c1009ff699b509ad4a325af5c78948fee1355e56f66e1317f8e4e3f4f0aa1

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

New video frames extraction system
⊡ Introduced a new frame extraction engine based on FFmpeg
⊡ Up to 10x faster thanks to full CPU utilization
⊡ Slight improvement video frames quality

Upscaled frames save improvements
⊡ Faster saving of upscaled frames with improved CPU usage

I/O efficiency improvements
⊡ Disabled Windows Indexer for folders containing video frames
⊡ Significantly reduces unnecessary CPU usage caused by Windows during frame extraction and saving, improving performance in both processes

AI models update
⊡ Updated AI models using latest tools
⊡ Improved upscale performance and accuracy

General improvements
⊡ Various bug fixes and code cleanup
⊡ Updated dependencies for improved stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/cd01c35c4685b3e9291acd23ef0c2374d3596c2addd5137b5a2101f6094956cb

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

AI Engine Update (v1.22)
⊡ Upgraded from version 1.17 to 1.22
⊡ Better support for new GPUs (Nvidia 4000/5000, AMD 7000/9000, Intel B500/B700)
⊡ Major optimizations and numerous bug fixes

Video AI multithreading
⊡ Up to 4× faster performance on high-end CPU/GPU setups
⊡ Example: AMD 5600 + RX6600 (8 threads) → 2× speed boost
⊡ Fixed improper CPU/GPU utilization when using multithreading

General improvements
⊡ Various bug fixes and code cleanup
⊡ Updated dependencies for improved stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/f5bc2959cc0a249ef1b95f5a300e2f2511d66b6ab914a20a7c272538d731bea3

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

Video upscaling improvements
⊡ Fixed a bug that caused upscaling to fail when using high AI multithreading settings
⊡ Optimized AI multithreading behavior for high thread counts, improving stability and performance
⊡ Improved performance when saving upscaled frames — faster and more lightweight
⊡ Updated FFMPEG to version 7.1.1 (mostly bugfix)

AI models update
⊡ Updated AI models using the latest tools
⊡ Improved VRAM usage and performance

General improvements
⊡ Bug fixes, code cleaning, and overall performance improvements
⊡ Updated dependencies to enhance stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/f7d0ac59c6fe755641a4084463440e7657eee335df7aad55cd904cb16e186358?nocache=1

▼ NEW

Completely redesigned GUI
⊡ The app now presents file information more clearly
⊡ Many widgets have been repositioned and grouped by functionalities
⊡ All info widgets have been improved, now displaying additional details for each setting
⊡ Redesigned the entire graphical user interface to deliver a modern, intuitive experience

Output resolution widget
⊡ Added a widget for selecting the output resolution
⊡ Allows further upscaling or downscaling after AI processing

Video extension widget
⊡ Introduced a widget for choosing the output video extension
⊡ Supported extensions:
⊡ .mp4
⊡ .mkv
⊡ .avi
⊡ .mov

Video codec widget
⊡ Added a widget for selecting the codec for upscaled videos
⊡ These codecs ensure compatibility with all major GPU families
⊡ Using hardware-accelerated codecs significantly improves encoding speed
⊡ Supported codecs:
⊡ CPU ( x264 - x265 )
⊡ NVIDIA ( h264_nvenc - hevc_nvenc )
⊡ AMD ( h264_amf - hevc_amf )
⊡ Intel ( h264_qsv - hevc_qsv )

AI multithreading optimization
⊡ Completely reworked AI multithreading functionality
⊡ Now supports up to 8 threads for better performance and stability
⊡ Significantly faster and more reliable than before

▼ REMOVED

CPU selection widget
⊡ The CPU selection widget has been removed
⊡ The app now automatically utilizes the optimal number of CPU cores

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

AI models update
⊡ Updated AI models using the latest tools
⊡ Improved GPU compatibility and upscaling performance

General improvements
⊡ Bug fixes, code cleaning, and overall performance improvements
⊡ Updated dependencies to enhance stability and compatibility

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/031ae4cabc773ecf16a01cf43de81d450dc3f772c1e0d5b403101e0fe5bd6c88

▼ NOTE
Nvidia GPUs optimizations
⊡ Is essential to enable Windows Hardware Accelerated GPU scheduling option
⊡ This option can dramatically improve upscale performance
⊡ Enable it in Windows 10 / Windows 11 settings > Graphic Settings menu

▼ NEW

Keep frames widget
⊡ Added new widget to choose whether to save upscaled video frames
⊡ Selecting “Enabled”, upscaled frames will not be deleted
⊡ This allows you to re-encode upscaled video with different extension without upscaling again

▼ BUGFIX / IMPROVEMENTS

AI models update
⊡ Updated AI models using updated tools
⊡ Improved GPU compatibility and upscaling performance

Video encoding improvements
⊡ Updated MoviePy to version 2.0
⊡ A long list of bugfixes and optimizations for video encoding

General improvements
⊡ Bug fixes, code cleaning, performance improvements
⊡ Updated dependencies

▼ VirusTotal
⊡ https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/c358dae6838b75cffe55ff6034bda8dd42c779365b26248832708d5f8558293d