Upscaling: DLSS, FSR and PSSR
How modern upscaling reconstructs a sharper image from a lower resolution, and how the three main systems differ.
Upscaling means rendering a game at a lower resolution and then enlarging the image to fill your screen. Older upscaling simply stretched the picture, which looked soft. Modern upscaling reconstructs the missing detail, and the result can be close to — occasionally sharper than — rendering at full resolution.
The reason it matters is performance. Rendering at a lower resolution is far cheaper, so a game can run faster, or spend the saved performance on ray tracing and other effects. This is how a console delivers something close to a 4K image while internally rendering well below it.
DLSS vs FSR vs PSSR — what is the difference?
DLSS is NVIDIA''s system, for NVIDIA graphics cards on PC only. It uses dedicated hardware on the card for machine-learning reconstruction, and it is generally regarded as producing the best image quality of the three.
FSR is AMD''s system and the most widely compatible — it runs on AMD and NVIDIA cards and on consoles, because it does not require specific hardware. That openness is its strength; image quality has historically trailed DLSS, though newer versions have narrowed the gap considerably.
PSSR is Sony''s system, built for the PS5 Pro. It is a machine-learning upscaler using dedicated hardware in the Pro, which is a large part of why the Pro produces a noticeably cleaner image than a standard PS5 in supported games.
What to know in practice
All three usually offer quality presets — Quality, Balanced, Performance — which control how low the internal resolution goes. Quality looks best; Performance runs fastest and shows more artefacts.
Upscaling is not free of drawbacks. In fast motion you can sometimes see shimmering or ghosting behind moving objects. It is generally still worth it: a well-upscaled image at 60 frames beats a native image at 30 for most people.
On console you rarely choose directly — the game decides. On PC it is a setting, and turning it on is usually the single easiest way to gain performance without lowering visual quality much.