How to Enhance a Low-Quality Video: Best 5 Techniques

Do you have a low-resolution video that doesn't present details in the best light? Does it have a low color saturation? Is its exposure off? Is it noisy or grainy? Regardless of the problem, you can quickly improve its quality with the right tool.

Before showing you how to enhance a low-quality video, let's see what might have made it such.

What Causes Low-Quality Videos?

The primary causes of low-quality videos include the following:

• Low-quality equipment – If you have an older or cheaper camera with a maximum resolution of 720p (HD), your videos won't look crystal clear on devices supporting Full HD (1080p), 4K, or higher.
• Insufficient lighting – Your eyes and camera lens process light differently. While you can seamlessly pick up contrast at night or other low-lighting conditions, your camera can't, making your videos look dark and sacrificing detail.
• Incorrect camera settings – Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO significantly impact video quality. For instance, using a narrow aperture and a high ISO when recording at night will make your video grainy.
• Camera shake – If you don't use a tripod to stabilize a handheld camera, you risk getting motion blur (unless you have incredibly steady hands). Besides shaky frames, it causes your video to lose its sharpness.
• Video compression – Compressing a video downgrades its quality. For instance, sending it to a friend via a messaging app will make it blurry or grainy. The same goes for using incorrect codecs to compress videos for streaming platforms.

The good news is you can improve a low-quality video. Technology has advanced so much that you can fine-tune every video element to make any footage look professional. The key lies in video editing software like Wondershare Filmora.

How to Enhance a Low-Quality Video With Filmora?

Wondershare Filmora is a professional, AI-powered video editor with many advanced features. It provides multiple ways to enhance low-quality videos according to different requirements.

For instance, it can enhance a video with a single click using Auto Enhance and boost the frame rate and smoothness using AI frame interpolation.

It can also remove video grain, automate editing tasks with an AI copilot, and polish your videos with many other tools. Its cutting-edge AI saves precious time, improving your editing efficiency while providing fantastic results.

Here's the fastest way to enhance a low-quality video with Filmora:

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1. Install and launch the software, register or log into your account, and click New Project.

   

2. Go to File > Import Media > Import Media Files, select your low-quality video, and drag and drop it onto the timeline.

   

3. Click the video on the timeline to select it and go to Video > Basic > Auto Enhance in the right-hand Properties panel. Once you toggle the switch, play the video in the Preview panel and drag the Amount slider to adjust the brightness and sharpness.

   

4. Go to Speed > Uniform Speed in the Properties panel and select Optical Flow under AI Frame Interpolation. That will increase the frame rate, improving video quality and smoothness.

   

4 Other Techniques to Enhance Low-Quality Videos

You can improve a low-quality video by increasing its resolution, reducing noise and grain, enhancing colors, and using editing techniques like applying and adjusting filters and effects.

Since Wondershare Filmora has all those aces up its sleeve, we'll show you how to leverage them to turn a low-quality video into professional-level footage.

1. Enhance Low-Quality Grainy Videos With Video Denoise

Most high-quality video editors have noise and grain reduction features; Filmora isn't an exception. Its AI-based Video Denoise tool can help minimize unwanted artifacts, making your video sharper and smoother. It's perfect for restoring clarity in old low-quality videos and footage recorded in low light or with a high ISO.

Here's how to reduce grain and noise in Filmora:

1. Import a grainy video and add it to the timeline using a drag-and-drop functionality.

   

2. Click the video on the timeline to select it and go to Video > AI Tools > Video Denoise in the right-hand Properties panel. You can choose from three customizable algorithms (Weak, Medium, and Strong) to reduce grain. You can also activate Stabilization if the footage is shaky and drag the slider to adjust the smoothness level.

2. Upscale Low-Resolution Videos

Upscaling a video means increasing its resolution, thus improving its clarity. It's sometimes all it takes to enhance a low-quality video.

Here's how to upscale a low-resolution video in Filmora:

1. Once you import a video into Filmora and make the desired edits, click Export in the upper right corner.

   

2. Pick a location and format, name the project, choose a quality (Better or Best), increase the frame rate to 30–60, and select a higher resolution (you can specify a custom one). Then, click Export and wait a few seconds for Filmora to upscale and save your video.

   

3. Improve Low-Quality Videos by Enhancing Colors

Color correction and grading are excellent for optimizing light, including exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, highlights, shadows, and white balance. You can also ensure hues and tones look like they do in real life. You can make colors pop, improve clarity, and make your videos visually pleasing.

Here's how to use many tools for enhancing colors in Filmora to improve a low-quality video:

1. Import a video and drag and drop it onto the timeline.

   

2. Click the video to select it, go to Color > Basic in the Properties panel, and enable the desired features like Light, LUT, and Color. Each offers optimization settings. For instance, you can apply a LUT preset and modify its strength while protecting skin tones.

   

3. The Light section lets you drag the Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Highlight, Shadow, White, and Black sliders. Play the video as you make adjustments to achieve the intended results.

   

4. The Color tool has Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Vibrance, Saturation, Temperature, and Tint sliders. Drag them to set the tone and improve video quality.
5. You can also add keyframes to change the color at specific points in your video (you can do it for Light and other features). Simply place the playhead at the desired frame, click the Keyframe icon corresponding to Exposure or another setting, and make adjustments.

   

6. Click HSL under Color in the Properties panel to increase or decrease each color's Hue, Saturation, and Luminance. Once you toggle the HSL switch, select a color and drag the sliders. Again, you can add keyframes for each.

   

7. Another helpful tool is Color Wheels. You can optimize Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows and add keyframes for each. Simply choose a color on a specific wheel and drag the slider to increase or decrease its intensity.

   

8. Finally, click the Color Comparison icon next to the Color Wheels tab to compare the changes in a side-by-side, left-to-right, or top-to-bottom view.

   

9. Play the video to see how you've improved its quality and if it calls for more adjustments.

   

4. Enhance Low-Quality Videos Through Editing Techniques

Does your video still need a little push to meet your expectations? It's time to leverage video effects and filters and customize them to improve clarity and overall quality. Here's how to do it in Filmora:

1. Go to Effects, type relevant keywords in the search box, or expand the options in the left sidebar to browse their categories.

   

2. Once you pick an effect, drag and drop it onto the timeline (in a separate track above your video) and expand it to apply it to a specific section or the entire footage.

   

3. Double-click the video effect or filter on the timeline to edit it, adjusting its opacity, intensity, colors, and other available settings (they vary among effects).

   

The best part? You can add as many filters and video effects as you wish. The chances are, only one won't cut it. Applying and fine-tuning several suitable options will help you achieve the best results.

The key is to try many effects because some will work better than others regarding improving video quality. Another crucial step is experimenting with their settings instead of merely adding them and calling it a day.

Conclusion

Low-quality videos have become a thing of the past with advanced editing techniques across modern video editing programs. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned content creator, Wondershare Filmora is your best bet because of its many standard-level tools and state-of-the-art AI capabilities.

It lets you automatically enhance and upscale a low-resolution video, correct colors, reduce noise and grain, and make other tweaks to supercharge quality and visual harmony. Try it for free to see it in action.

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