Upscale an Image to 4K

4K means 3840×2160 pixels - four times the pixels of Full HD. Wallpapers, TV screens, YouTube thumbnails and presentations all look noticeably sharper at 4K. This guide shows exactly which upscale factor gets your image there.

Which factor gets you to 4K?

Your imageFactorResult
480 × 2708x3840 × 2160
960 × 5404x3840 × 2160
1280 × 720 (HD)4x5120 × 2880
1920 × 1080 (Full HD)2x3840 × 2160

Landing a little above 4K is fine - a slightly larger image scales down cleanly on any screen. What you want to avoid is landing below it.

Step by step

  1. If the image isn't 16:9, crop it first with the Widescreen 16:9 preset in the image cropper, so it fills a 4K screen without black bars.
  2. Open the image upscaler and upload the photo.
  3. Choose the factor from the table above.
  4. Click Enhance & Enlarge and download as PNG for the best quality.

Open the image upscaler →  ·  Open the image cropper →

4K on a phone

Phones cap the output at 4096 pixels on the long side and about 15 megapixels. That still covers 4K, which is 8.3 megapixels. For 8K (7680×4320), use a desktop browser, where the limit is 8192 pixels.

Will it look like a real 4K photo?

It will look clean and sharp at 4K, without the blur of simple resizing. Smaller images go through a neural super-resolution model that reconstructs fine texture; very large images use progressive resampling. Either way, a sharp 1080p source gives a far better 4K result than a blurry one, so start from the best original you have.

Frequently asked questions

What resolution is 4K?

3840×2160 pixels (UHD 4K), a 16:9 aspect ratio. Cinema 4K is slightly wider at 4096×2160.

Can I upscale a 1080p image to 4K?

Yes. Choose 2x: 1920×1080 at 2x is exactly 3840×2160.

Can I upscale to 8K?

On desktop, yes: a 1920×1080 image at 4x becomes 7680×4320 (8K). Phones are limited to 4096 pixels on the long side.

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