Integer Scaling - How to play crisp 1080p on 4k display (Windows 10)

I reccomend playing this video in 4k
As we know, 1080p scaling on a 4k display is far from ideal, since most display won't just apply straight-up scaling
This is a short step-by-step tutorial for pixel doubling/integer scaling 1080p on a 4k display.
Following these steps, the 1080p image will look like native resolution. In other words, every 1080p pixel will be composed of a 4-pixel square of the native 4k.
You can test the result by taking a focused photo, with max zoom, of the 4k display small area.
The individual 4k pixels should be grouped in same-color squares to form a 1080p pixel each.
Compare the photo with one similar photo taken from this video (in 4k fullscreen mode)
Normally, there's no need to change per-app scaling, unless the app doesn't look crisp.
The game must support borderless fullscreen mode. The borderless resolution should show 1920x1080 (if it shows at all)
It works in Windows 10. I am not sure it can apply to older versions, but it's worth trying.
Cheers

[@Rottenation]

Man, this is really cool! I can just switch between fullscreen and borderless and see the difference! Thanks!

[@benjaminpichler3380]

This is a perfect Workaround, thank you so much for it! Finally it's possible to use a Screen beside it's native Resolution! I'd never have thought of using the Windows Scaling System that Way.

[@DemiR0b]

Wow,now i can play 1080p 120hz with very crisp and clear graphics now! Thank you so much.

[@ThalesMML]

You're amazing! I have GTX 1080 and Nvidia doesn't support my card with integer scaling. But now with your help, it's working, thank you very much!

[@ilposto7489]

I have same gpu, the quality Of 1080p games on 4k monitor it's good with this method ?

[@thedeegee1601]

@@ilposto7489 Would like to know the same thing, as i want upgrade to a 27 inch 4K display, but still run a GTX 1070.

[@servandoferreira2430]

hello i have the same issue i need help can u help me i have 1440p monitor and 1080 looks ass on it

[@AniketSingh-hr8mi]

​@@servandoferreira2430 try running game on 720p as 720x2=1440 so 200% scaling should work fine. I dont have a 1440 monitor so cant confirm

[@kairoward7738]

i justr fixed using filter nvidia geforce too easy

[@Bruno-jf3cb]

Does this works for steam games? I did it on New World and when I tried to launch the game it begin to download a 15GB patch

[@brscic]

what about using integer on nvidia control planel ,.. does that work also?

[@ThunderKat]

I'm surprise they didn't fix this sort of issues using DLSS for older games, like native FSR/DLSS for older games... Something you config directly on the game launcher same way as you tick "run this program as administrator" there should be one for run this game at "720p/1080p/1440p emulated resolution" with improved quality to make it look the same wat a 1080p video shown on a 4K monitor by using DLSS/FSR to fix any sort of pixilation.

[@primetiming5846]

Will playing bluray 1080p disk movie on win10 look bad on 4k monitor?

[@rodrigobrambilla4782]

Thank you so much!!! Now I'm finally able to enjoy Flight Simulator again, looks much, much sharper on my 4K screen!

[@Myuty]

how can you do that in msfs ? is it working?

[@rodrigobrambilla4782]

@@Myuty I just followed the exact same steps shown on the video, but did it on the MSFS .exe file (the one inside the Steam common apps folder)!

[@RCMgb]

@@rodrigobrambilla4782 does this trick make 1080p look as good as if you were running 1080p at native resolution?

[@rodrigobrambilla4782]

@@RCMgb almost! It really helped before I got a new card! Give it shot, you'll definitely see some improvement!

[@lostintokyo6621]

been looking forever to find out how to run a game at 1080p with a 1440p monitor and not make it look like shit, i finnaly found out it was due to windows crappy interger scaling and the only reason i found the fix was because of your video, hopefully others with the same problem can find this video, tysm man!

[@freemelody-ideas682]

did it work well for you? what settings did you use? he uses in the video 200 % because he has a 4k monitor. what should we set that with a 1440p monitor?

[@IGameEverythingSolo]

Just try "Lossless Scaling" , you can upscale from 1080p to 4K with few button clicks and with AMD FSR.

[@BlueVansCapofAwesome]

@@freemelody-ideas682 Did you find this out yet? Bought a 1440p monitor, but thinking of returning it because all of my 1080p content is blurry.

[@sunder8021]

@@BlueVansCapofAwesome hey have you tried it out how does it work now?

[@vinylSummer]

@@BlueVansCapofAwesome did you return it after all?

[@Somulo]

WHAT ARE YOU ARE GENIUS??? MA MAN, ITS TOTALLY COOL ACTUALLY

[@brockkencj7894]

I am going to buy a 43 inch 4k hdr tv for movies and gaming. The gpu i am using currently is gtx 1660 super. So will the 1080p game output look as good as it looks on 22 inch monitor?

[@salted6422]

How does it look?

[@dolsika2591]

no dont do it , i was thinking like you but games looks really shit cuz i had 1080p gaming monitor with 144 ghz and games was looking way better then the 4k tv , so get the monitor with high refresh rate better

[@ansoncheung7287]

Does this method work with games which cannot run in borderless full screen mode? I am currently running it on 1080p monitor in windows mode, certainly the resolution does not reach 1920x1080 due to the windows bar. If I switch to a 4K monitor and continue to run the game in windows mode, is there any chance I can get the same result as you show in the video? Thanks :)

[@deggial2005]

I found an app named Integer Scaler. Do a search. It will scale simple window modes to borderless scaled

[@PioneeringPhilosophy]

can some1 explain these virtual super resolution gpu scaling integer scaling scaling mode full panel preserve aspect ratio centre as gpu scaling on or off with this scaling modes

[@Omizuke]

O.o this would also work for 720p on 1440p monitors or x3 (300%) on a 4K for people that got a 4K display for movies or productivity but their GPUs can't even handle 1080p gaming at decent fps those times they feel like casually playing something.

[@RHQ7]

Would this work for 1440p to 1080p? Should i still be on 200% scaling?

[@virtual7789]

720p for 200% scaling. youve probably figured that out by now it

[@dreaaMz13]

@@virtual7789didn't understand 😅 So if we're trying to play 1080p res on a 1440p monitor, and we want a crisp image, there's no way even with this method? On this case the only possible for 1440p monitors would be "reducing" to 720p? Thanks in advance.

[@virtual7789]

@@dreaaMz13 yeah you need to do 720p

[@sebastianojeda9498]

So this makes your monitor/tv display the 1080p image as native instead of stretching the frame to 4k :0 I really want buy a 4k tv for movies and games but I hate that games looks blurry on none native resolution. I hope this works with every game

[@deggial2005]

it works for the ones that can do windowed fullscreen mode. Look for "Integer Scaler". It's a small software that does it simpler now

[@raghavbhatnagar551]

@@deggial2005 can i run rdr2 at 720p in game settings in my 1080 laptop screen. Will game look blurry or will it look like 1080p?

[@thorn4173]

Thank you very much!

[@abdulazeez.98]

Thank you, very helpful.

[@omega458]

is there a way to do this on windows 11? i don't get why my switch/ps4/xbone look crisp and normal on my 4k tv when they're only 1080p.... but my pc looks like ass if i try to play a game on 1080p, my graphics card isn't strong enough for 4k

[@juanwhick1691]

Right I don’t get it. Like red dead redemption 2 looked so fucking good on my Xbox. Then I went to pc and played it again and it looked decent but not as good as sharp. Now I’m playing Msfs and it looks pretty bad. Jaggies and all. 1440 looks better but then I get about 40-30 fps on my 3060 12GB.

[@AnimeUniverseDE]

The 200% Windows scale is required, right? I normally use 125% so I would have to change it every time

[@deggial2005]

yes indeed. It's about the 2:1 ratio of 4k compared to 1080p. 200% scaling makes 4pixels emulate one pixel

[@AnimeUniverseDE]

@@deggial2005 thanks! Does this come with any caveats? Like no HDR, VRR, ...

[@AdrianMuslim]

Wait, so you can play any game at lower resolution, get same quality as native res. and get more performance?

[@deggial2005]

It's about perfect pixel displaying. Like 1080p on 4k will look like on a 1080p native display and not blurry

[@AdrianMuslim]

@@deggial2005 *1.* Does it work on all games? *2.* Do we have to do anything in nvidia settings? *3.* Will we get the same frame rate as running 1080p on 4k display without integer scaling? 4. Does it work for 1080p display? Like play crisp 720p on 1080p?

[@deggial2005]

@@AdrianMuslim 1. Applying the solution in the video works with most games that can use borderless windowed mode 2. NVidia latest driver already has Integer scaling that does this job in fullscreen. However, I understood that old cards are not supported. Look for display scaling in the NVidia settings. 3. The performance impact is 0. You will have. the same fps either way. 4. On 1080p display, you can only show like 960x540 to fill the whole screen. 720p will look centered, because there needs to be more than 2:1 resolution ratio in order to use integer scaling. For example, an 1440p monitor will be able to display a crisp fullscreen 720p using integer scaling because 1440p is 2x2x720p. Just math. Another example: 900p on 4k will actually be a centered 3200x1800, with black bars around.

[@AdrianMuslim]

@@deggial2005 Thanks for the information. Interesting stuff. I'll have to try it with my 2080

[@ivanfelipep1468]

Arief It's absolutly great, Native 4K Gaming is overrated, in terms of quality / performance you don't get something that you say "Oh my God, 4K is light years away" So what happend? Only 4K displays like Smart TVs and monitors are compatible with HDR and have 10-bit panel, this makes a difference between a 1080p display against a 4K display, is not the resolution what improves image quality, so, play at 4K resolution doesn't worth it, even if you are a RTX 2080 Ti user, how many FPS you will get playing at 4K and RTX on? very different is play at 1080p, you can reach +100FPS with RTX on, so going back to the point, that doesn't mean that you should not buy a 4K display, yes you must IF that display supports HDR content, you will see a big difference, but the best part is that you can play at 1080p on 4K display and no distortion in the image, even you can do it a 720p resolution (720p is exactly 9 times less resolution than 4K, so the scaling is perfect). The best someone can do is buy a 4K display (TV or monitor) with HDR support and enjoy the games at 1080p and the best possible image quality and higher possible frames.

[@LoQueNadiePidio-DC]

The result is the same than with integer scaler?

[@deggial2005]

Well yes. Integer scaler needs windowed mode, this method works in fullscreen. Results vary with both though

[@nouraizasad4401]

@@deggial2005 Will this app work with freesync? I mean if I am running a game at 1080p on a 4k tv/monitor that has freesync, and if the fps changes slightly, will freesync take care of the lag/jitter?

[@deggial2005]

@@nouraizasad4401 I apologize for the late reply. Sadly, freesync only works in exclusive fullscreen mode. This method returns a borderless windowed mode.

[@pavelzrzavy6934]

Are you sure? You can use G sync compatible monitors with borderless nice as well 😃

[@jeffhendrick6250]

Hi I followed the steps in your video but for me it doesn't work. I have a rtx2060 super card. Games at 1080p continue to look blurry and fuzzy when I play them on my 4k monitor

[@Bocharick70Rus]

rtx 2060 has integer scaling, so use it

[@clamcasino7094]

@Graphiar a 2060 can’t run 4k well

[@ge0rgeazz]

LEGEND!!!!!!

[@augustoalves161]

Work on TVS?

[@TVRFanboy]

Thank you

[@ReplayMastersTekken]

Will this if i wanted 1080 to a 1440 monitor ?

[@deathradar2865]

Did u find an answer ?

[@PioneeringPhilosophy]

can it does same work for 640×480p on 1080p monitor fps effect

[@deggial2005]

there need to be an integer ratio between the monitor native resolution and the resolution you want. 1080p is half lines, half columns of 4k. what you want would be 960x540, not 640x480

[@theonewhoknocks9512]

tnx for the video I don't have fix scaling option in windows 11 does it work for any game? anyone tried other games?

[@lintflavored7238]

Will this work for a 1440p monitor as well?

[@deggial2005]

nope. Math doesn't allow it. Look for the software named "Integer Scaler". It might work your way

[@1997zhjc1]

@@deggial2005 why not? just use 720p not 1080p

[@victorstavila2476]

У меня GTX 970 и 4К монитор играть в 2021 году можно на данной карточке но увы уже не на высоких настройках а в некоторых играх ваше онли фул хд и то с просадками а тыт это видео Спасибо .

[@franklogrim8510]

So how would i go by doing this in a old game called Tibia, there's no resolution option within the game.. It uses whatever your native display is set as in windows.. For example if i set 125% scaling the game will be scaled similarly.. im using 1440p display, would it be possible to scale it, if so how? Thx!

[@deggial2005]

I downloaded and installed Tibia. It looks like you can actually change the resolution in the launcher.... Download the latest drivers for your graphics card, choose integer scaling. You will be able to choose 720p for the native 1440p

[@franklogrim8510]

@@deggial2005 There is only option to scale the game to a 1:1 ratio using the integral multiplier scaler but no way to change resolution.. If so where is it?.. I always use latest drivers.

[@deggial2005]

@@franklogrim8510 the integer scaling option is in the graphics driver settings, in the display/ scaling tab. (This video is already outdated since all graphics drivers provide this option).

[@franklogrim8510]

@@deggial2005 First you say i can change resolution in the launcher (client) from what i can tell is not possible, now your tellming me to use the interger scaler in the driver?.. pardon me im little confused right now.

[@deggial2005]

@@franklogrim8510 mate, just look on youtube or google "how to enable integer scaling"

[@Endymion429]

Does this work with a 1440p monitor too?

[@deggial2005]

Yes. For 1440p, the half resolution is 1280x720.

[@andieleta]

Been looking for this method! Btw anyone tried for Cyberpunk 2077 yet?

[@Slyclientthetechdad]

Just tried, doesnt work

[@abi2fine]

Hi will this work for cyberpunk 2077? thankx

[@deggial2005]

It should work with anything that supports borderless windowed

[@abi2fine]

@@deggial2005 will it feel blurred?

[@shadowbreaker6027]

can you make another video for windows 11?

[@deggial2005]

This video is old. Since then, some applications have appeared like Lossless Scaling, which simplifies everything, and I recommend it instead going messy with desktop scaling

[@tevairuajouen6432]

i have a black screen.

[@justspaztik]

FYI, Radeon Drivers do this now.

[@deggial2005]

This video was released a few days before the drivers could do this.

[@justspaztik]

@@deggial2005 Ah gotcha. Thanks

[@mikfhan]

Yeah it's nice to have, and AMD/Nvidia drivers SHOULD work for exclusive fullscreen mode also. A slight input lag maybe, but still faster than the native higher resolution. It's especially nice for sub 540p > 1080p or 720p > 1440p and also 1080p > 2160p if players bought 4K displays but struggle to run most games in such a high resolution.

[@omegavladosovich6757]

What about Windows 10's UI? Everything looks a blur.

[@deggial2005]

Native resolution + scaling should already look fine

[@omegavladosovich6757]

@@deggial2005 no, I have a 4K laptop and everything runs much faster at 1080p, but the scaling is awful. For games it is fine because it appears the GPU does integer scaling in most situations, but Windows 10 and Chrome look blurry.

[@deggial2005]

@@omegavladosovich6757 it only looks blurry if the resolution is not native. I have a 4k 32" display. I use 3840x2160 with 150% scaling. However, any scaling value looks crisp for me.

[@omegavladosovich6757]

@@deggial2005 Well I want to use my laptop at a lower non-native resolution because the performance is substantially better with certain apps.

[@deggial2005]

@@omegavladosovich6757 technically, 4k native + 200% scaling is 1080p. The overall OS performance should be really close to native 1080p in this case. I am talking about windows 10 enviroment. Your issue is probably about the low- power graphics adapter, used in anything else than gaming

[@ik0512]

Dont work on windows 11

[@selshady4086]

I got a PS4 it's supports 1080p only but i have 1440p monitor and the image looks blurry how can I fix it 🙂

[@chromantium5210]

i play apex in laptop with rx560x gpu BUT external monitor 144hz 1080P. i used to play 4:3 960x720 but i keep struggle to get high fps buat still "visible" resolution. try this one scale up to 1080P from 960x540 and then compare it with the native 1920x1080. actually, this scale up is not really bad, i can "see" because this scalling. will try this for few days and compare it with my 960x720 old resolution.

[@Aggressive_Splooge]

Did it work?

[@chromantium5210]

@@Aggressive_Splooge with my only rx560x, this settings is my best performance. i got like 100-110 fps average. already hardstuck diamond from season 7 - 12 (i cant reach master, too hard for solo queue)

[@user-jt2ui8ed1c]

will work on nvidia 1080ti?

[@deggial2005]

it should work on any card

[@racingwu4265]

Why is your D:\ drive label called shit?

[@deggial2005]

No particular reason... did it 20+ years ago am it kinda stuck this way 🙂

[@69maws]

why not juste make the game at 180 resolution and thats it ?

[@deggial2005]

A 4k monitor does not scale 1080p properly. Integer scaling does that

[@corvoattano8407]

Does anybody how I can play in 4k if I have 2k monitor?

[@yeyeohkillem]

what type of gpu u got

[@corvoattano8407]

@@yeyeohkillem rtx 2060

[@yeyeohkillem]

@@corvoattano8407 look on youtube how to play 4k and they will show u its easy

[@yeyeohkillem]

@@corvoattano8407 but all u gotta do is go on nvidia control panel and look for dsr

[@XJIOP]

DSR

[@Maloi198513]

I just can't understand one thing, why any browser can safely stretch 144p to 4k, but the image will be grainy, because the source code is of poor quality.... but when you try to run a FullHD game on a 4k monitor, windows jerks off the desktop resolution to 1080p, and when you need to fall out using alt + tab, then scales back to 4k the entire desktop, instead of pulling FullHD to 4k with loss of quality, as the browser does... I don't understand the creators of the browser are so brilliant or just the creators of windows / nvidia /radeon just have their hands growing out of their ass?

[@davidquezada50]

not true 4K all you need to do is make it FULL SCREEN scaling on. in the graphics control panel

[@deggial2005]

are you talking about Intel GFX panel?

[@abee5517]

if i wanted to play a 1080p game on a 1440p monitor without it being blurry what do i do

[@robertbopko]

You need to use 720p not 1080p.