Topaz Proteus Video Upscaler: 1080p or 4K, Price & Guide

Topaz Proteus is Topaz Labs’ general-purpose video enhancement model: it cleans up noise, compression blocks and soft faces while upscaling a clip to 1080p or 4K, and keeps its length, aspect ratio, frame rate and audio. On VdoBloom it sits in the Upscale tab next to Topaz Video Upscale and starts at 4 credits: a 10-second 1080p phone clip at 30 fps costs 7 credits to clean up at 1080p and 18 credits to take to 4K.

Disclosure: VdoBloom is our platform.

VdoBloom added Topaz Proteus on September 25, 2026 as a second, cheaper option in the Upscale tab. This guide explains what Proteus does, how to run it, what it costs for different clip sizes, lengths and frame rates, how it compares with the Topaz Video Upscale model that is already there, and where upscaling can’t help.

What Topaz Proteus is

Proteus is one of the enhancement models in Topaz Labs’ video software. The Topaz enhancement documentation describes it as a “general enhancement model” that “excels when reducing noise and when working with low to medium-quality footage”, and calls it one of the go-to models because it works for many kinds of footage. VdoBloom runs version 4 of the model through Runware, whose documentation lists what it improves: noise, compression artifacts, faces, interlaced material and scene transitions.

In plain terms, Proteus is a repair-and-enlarge tool. It is a good fit for:

• Compressed exports that show blocks and smearing, such as clips saved from messaging apps or social platforms.
• 720p or smaller AI-generated clips that need to sit in a 1080p or 4K timeline.
• Noisy phone or webcam footage shot in dim light.
• Older low-resolution footage, such as 480p clips that look soft on a modern screen.

It doesn’t add new content, change the motion or make the clip longer. It works on the pixels that are already there.

How to upscale a video with Proteus on VdoBloom

1. Open the Upscale tab and choose Topaz Proteus, the second model card. Topaz Video Upscale stays selected by default.
2. Upload your clip (MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 500 MB) or paste a public video link.
3. Wait a moment while VdoBloom reads the clip. It shows the source resolution, frame rate and length under the upload box, and refuses clips it can’t process before any credits move.
4. Pick the target: 1080p or 4K. The exact cost for your clip is shown before you generate.
5. Press generate. The upscaled video appears in the panel and in your library.

There is nothing else to set. VdoBloom runs Proteus in its automatic mode, where the model reads the footage and chooses its own noise reduction, compression repair and sharpening.

What size comes back

The target is a box the video is fitted into, keeping its proportions. Portrait clips get a portrait box, so a phone video isn’t squeezed into a landscape frame.

Other details:

• Frame rate: kept as it was. Proteus doesn’t add frames.
• Audio: kept.
• Format: an MP4 encoded with HEVC (H.265), which keeps 4K files smaller. Most current phones, Macs and editing apps play it; some older Windows PCs need an HEVC codec.
• Speed: in VdoBloom’s integration runs on September 25, 2026, a 3-second 640 x 360 clip upscaled to 1080p took about 45 seconds. Longer clips and 4K take longer.
• Limits: up to 60 seconds, up to 60 fps, up to 500 MB.

How much Topaz Proteus costs

Proteus is priced by how much video it has to process, not by a flat rate per second. Two things set that amount:

• Frames: the clip’s length times its frame rate. A 10-second clip at 30 fps has 300 frames; the same clip at 60 fps has 600, so it costs about twice as much.
• Working size: Proteus enlarges each frame in steps of 1x, 2x or 4x, using the smallest step that reaches your target, and then fits the result to 1080p or 4K. A 1080p clip going to 1080p is processed at its own size, a 720p clip going to 1080p at 2x, and a 720p clip going to 4K at 4x. Bigger working frames cost more.

The total is rounded up to a whole credit, and the smallest job is 4 credits. Examples for a 30 fps source, the usual phone frame rate:

The frame rate changes the frame count, so the same 10-second 1080p clip costs:

Small sources such as 480p or 360p are enlarged 4x for either target, so 1080p and 4K cost the same for them: a 10-second 480p clip at 30 fps is 14 credits either way, and a 10-second 640 x 360 clip is 11.

Three worked examples:

• An 8-second 720p AI clip at 24 fps, to 1080p: 192 frames processed at 2x, 7 credits. That fits inside the 10 free credits a new account starts with.
• A 20-second 30 fps 1080p phone clip to 4K: 35 credits.
• The same 20 seconds shot at 60 fps, to 4K: 69 credits. Twice the frames, about twice the price.

Because VdoBloom reads the size, frame rate and frame count from the file, the cost you see before generating is the cost you pay. If the frame rate can’t be read from the file, the clip is counted as 60 fps, and the check line under the upload box says so (“frame rate unreadable, priced as 60 fps”). Re-exporting the clip as a standard MP4 usually makes the frame rate readable. If a job fails, the credits go back to your balance automatically.

Topaz Proteus vs Topaz Video Upscale

The Upscale tab now has two Topaz models. They are set up differently, so the right one depends on the job. Proteus prices are for a 1080p source at 30 fps, at the time of writing.

The rows aren’t a like-for-like size match: 2x on a 720p clip gives 1440p, while Proteus gives exactly 1080p or 4K. But for the common jobs, a clip to 1080p or a 4K delivery at 24 or 30 fps, Proteus costs much less.

• Pick Proteus for short clips (its 4-credit minimum against 30), for a standard 1080p or 4K deliverable, for noisy or compressed footage, and for files over 10 MB.
• Pick Topaz Video Upscale for clips longer than 60 seconds, for a 1x cleanup that keeps the original size, or when you want a set multiple such as 2x.
• Going from 60 fps to 4K? For clips longer than about 8 seconds, Topaz Video Upscale is the better value for that one case (a 10-second 1080p clip at 60 fps is 32 credits at 2x against 35 on Proteus), or export the clip at 30 fps first and use Proteus (18 credits).

For more on the existing model, see our Topaz Video Upscale guide.

How to get better results

• Start from the best file you have. Runware’s Proteus guide puts it plainly: “Detail that was destroyed by re-compression does not come back.” Upload the original export, not a copy downloaded from a social app.
• For AI clips, generate at a higher resolution when you can. A model that renders 1080p natively usually beats a 720p render upscaled. Our AI video resolution guide covers when higher tiers are worth it.
• Edit and trim first, upscale last. Billing follows the number of frames, so cut the handles off before uploading. If you are also changing what is in the clip, do that first in the AI Edit tab, then upscale the finished edit. FLUX Video Edit [fast], for example, outputs 720p, and Proteus can take its result to 1080p or 4K.
• Choose 1080p unless you deliver 4K. Most social platforms show 1080p. 4K usually costs two and a half to four times as much.
• Consider 30 fps. If your final video is 30 fps anyway, export the clip at 30 fps before uploading. A 60 fps source has twice the frames, so it costs up to about twice as much.
• Check faces at full size. The Runware guide notes that “skin is where over-smoothing appears first”. Look at faces at 100% zoom, not in a small preview.
• Upscale once. Running the output through again compounds the model’s guesses. Pick the target you need the first time.

Upscaling a still image instead? The Image Upscaler is a separate, cheaper tool built for photos.

Honest limits

• Automatic mode only. The underlying model has manual controls for grain, detail recovery and sharpening, but VdoBloom runs the automatic mode with no sliders. Footage with deliberate film grain can come back smoother than you want.
• It can’t invent what isn’t there. Heavy motion blur, a face only a few pixels wide or a badly out-of-focus shot will get cleaner, not sharp.
• AI glitches stay glitches. A warped hand or flickering background in a generated clip becomes a sharper warped hand. Fix those by regenerating.
• No frame-rate increase. The output keeps the source frame rate. It won’t turn 24 fps into 60.
• 60 seconds and 60 fps. Longer clips need to be split, or use Topaz Video Upscale. Sources above 60 fps are refused.
• Only two targets. 1080p and 4K. There is no 1440p or 2x option.

Frequently asked questions

Is Topaz Proteus free on VdoBloom?

Not unlimited, but new accounts get 10 free credits. That covers a 1080p upscale of a 1080p clip up to 16 seconds at 30 fps (20 seconds at 24 fps), or of a 720p clip up to 9 seconds at 30 fps. After that, the smallest job is 4 credits, and a 10-second 30 fps 1080p clip is 7 credits to 1080p or 18 to 4K.

How long does a Proteus upscale take?

Short clips usually take under a minute. A 3-second clip to 1080p took about 45 seconds in VdoBloom’s integration runs on September 25, 2026. Longer clips and 4K take more time, and you can leave the page while it runs.

Does Proteus keep the sound and frame rate?

Yes. The audio track and the source frame rate are both kept, and so are the length and aspect ratio.

Why does my 60 fps clip cost more?

A 60 fps clip has twice as many frames per second as a 30 fps clip, and Proteus is priced by the frames it processes, so the same length costs up to about twice as much: 11 credits instead of 7 for a 10-second 1080p clip to 1080p. A clip whose frame rate can’t be read is counted as 60 fps. Export at 30 fps first if you don’t need the extra frames.

Why can a 480p clip cost more than a 1080p clip?

Proteus works in 1x, 2x and 4x steps. A 1080p clip going to 1080p needs no enlarging, while a 480p clip has to be processed at 4x, which makes each working frame bigger than 1080p. So a 10-second 480p clip at 30 fps costs 14 credits to 1080p, against 7 for a 1080p clip of the same length.

Should I use Topaz Proteus or Topaz Video Upscale?

Use Proteus for clips up to 60 seconds that need to reach 1080p or 4K, where it is usually much cheaper. Use Topaz Video Upscale for longer clips, a same-size 1x cleanup, a set 2x or 4x factor, or a 60 fps clip going to 4K.

Can Proteus fix a blurry video?

It helps with softness from compression, low resolution and noise. It can’t rebuild detail lost to heavy motion blur or bad focus, so those shots get cleaner but not truly sharp.