Upscaling Midjourney Video to 4K

Here's how to get to 4K without the mushy, over-smoothed look that kills the Midjourney aesthetic.

Why generative video is different

AI-generated video isn't like footage from a camera. The "detail" is synthetic — it's what the model imagined, not what a lens captured. When you upscale it, you need a model that respects that. A model trained on photographic noise will smear the smooth gradients that make Midjourney clips look dreamlike.

The approach: model-specific upscaling

Instead of one model for everything, use a model tuned for generative video:

Step-by-step

1. 1

   Export your Midjourney clip as MP4

   Keep the original 1080p file. Do not re-encode before upload.

2. 2

   Upload to UpRes

   Drop the MP4 at upres.ai — no GPU, no After Effects, no frame-by-frame work.

3. 3

   Select Motion as your model

   Motion is tuned for generative video and keeps the cinematic look.

4. 4

   Set target resolution to 4K

   Wait about 45 seconds, then download the 4K MP4.

That's it. No GPU, no After Effects, no frame-by-frame work.

What about batch?

If you're generating multiple clips (a common workflow for music videos or social content), you can upload up to 10 at once. Each gets processed independently, and you download them when ready.

The API route

If you're building a pipeline — say, generating Midjourney clips programmatically and upscaling them automatically — there's a REST API:

curl -X POST https://api.upres.ai/api/upscale \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ***" \
  -F "video=@clip.mp4" \
  -F "model=motion" \
  -F "scale=4"

The API returns a job ID. Poll for completion:

curl https://api.upres.ai/api/jobs/JOB_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ***"

There's also an MCP server for AI agent integrations, and CLI tools:

npx upres-cli upscale clip.mp4 --model motion --scale 4

Free tier

You get 3 free upscales per month. No credit card. If you need more, the Creator plan starts at $9/month for 50 images + 20 minutes of 4K video.