If you’re a creative mind, you’ve probably heard of Topaz Labs in some capacity. This company is known for its powerful suite of photo editing software, and now they’re using artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline video editing too.
Whether you’re searching for a way to improve your videos without reshooting clips or are just browsing around for a new software tool to use, Topaz Video AI is one of the best options on the market.
But is it the right software for you and your videos? I took a deep dive into the software to find out if the software was worth it and had all the best features. Here’s my honest Topaz Video AI review.
Verdict: 4/5. The undisputed king of video upscaling and restoration, with results nothing else matches. Slow renders and subscription pricing are the price of admission. Best for: restoring old footage and upscaling to 4K.
2026 Update: Two Renames and a New Pricing Model
A quick orientation before the review, because this product has changed names twice and changed its pricing model completely since launch.
The name: the software launched as Video Enhance AI, became Topaz Video AI in 2022, and since 2025 Topaz officially calls it simply Topaz Video. Same product line, same team, progressively shorter names. I’ll call it Topaz Video AI throughout this review, since that’s the name most people search for and most tutorials use.
The pricing: the old deal ($299 once, with a year of updates) was discontinued in October 2025 when Topaz Labs ended perpetual licenses across all its apps. Topaz Video is now subscription only, sold standalone or as part of the Topaz Studio bundle at $399 per year alongside Topaz Photo and Gigapixel. If you bought a perpetual license before the cutoff, it keeps working forever but is frozen at your last entitled version; new AI models require a subscription. Full details in the pricing section below.
What is Topaz Video AI?
What exactly is Topaz Video AI? It’s a software application that comes from the minds at Topaz Labs. The program uses AI technology to enhance and upscale the quality of video files.
The program is built with advanced AI algorithms that help analyze and understand everything that’s already in the video before applying enhancements that make sense based on the content.
Some of the enhancements that the software might apply to videos include adjusting the resolution, details, sharpness, and overall quality of the video so that it looks better to viewers.
Topaz Video AI and Its Impact on Videography Workflow
Topaz Video AI’s impact on videography workflow is substantial.
It’s helped artists streamline their workflow by spending less time editing and more time shooting and getting the products to their clients or ready for publishing.
It’s helped photographers and videographers enhance the details of the video without spending hours on end adjusting various aspects one by one.
Overall, this software’s impact on the video world is significant, and it may only continue to make a difference for those who use the program for their work.
Topaz Video AI Specifications: Minimum and Recommended
When you’re considering adding any new editing software to your computer, ensuring that you have the proper hardware for it to run well can mean the difference between a terrible experience and a great one. Fair warning: video AI models are dramatically hungrier than their photo equivalents, and this software will use every bit of hardware you can throw at it.
Minimum Requirements for Mac
On the Mac side, the practical minimum in 2026 is an Apple Silicon machine (M1 or newer) with 16 GB of unified memory. Older Intel Macs can technically run it, but render times become genuinely painful. The good news is that Topaz Video is extremely well optimized for Apple Silicon, and even a base M-series MacBook punches above its weight here.
Minimum Requirements for Windows
On Windows, you’ll want Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and, non-negotiably, a dedicated GPU. An NVIDIA RTX-class card with at least 6 to 8 GB of VRAM is the realistic floor; the software runs on less, but renders slow to a crawl. Topaz updates its published minimums as models evolve, so check the current requirements on the Topaz site before buying, especially for older machines.
Recommended Hardware for Optimal Performance
The minimums will run the software, but video AI rewards horsepower more than almost any other creative tool. For comfortable render times you want:
- Operating System: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) or current macOS
- Processor: Intel Core i7 / AMD Ryzen 7 or higher, or Apple Silicon (M1 Pro and up shine here)
- RAM: 16 GB minimum, 32 GB recommended
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX series with 8 GB or more of VRAM, or a recent AMD equivalent
- Disk Space: a fast SSD with plenty of headroom; upscaled video files get big quickly
It’s important to note that you will need a strong internet connection to download the software onto your computer. Remember, even with the recommended specifications, how well the software will run on your computer might be different from someone else’s. If your machine is due for an upgrade anyway, our guide to the best computers for photo editing covers hardware that handles AI video work too. And if your hardware simply can’t keep up, Topaz now offers cloud rendering that runs the heavy models on their servers instead.
Topaz Video AI: The Pros and Cons
As someone who’s played around with the Topaz Video AI software, there were a lot of things to love about it, but nothing is perfect, so there were some shortcomings. Here are what I would deem the pros and cons of the Topaz Video AI software to help you decide if it’s something you think is worth trying.
What Topaz Video AI Excels At
Everyone will have their own opinion on what they think the software did well at what it didn’t, but these are the things I believe Topaz Video AI excelled at:
- Detail Enhancement: Topaz Video AI goes frame by frame to analyze the video for where improvement in detail enhancement can be made. It did a pretty good job with this; nothing it suggested looked weird or unnatural.
- Restoration of Low-Quality and Old Videos: The AI algorithm of this tool is built to enhance the resolution of low-quality videos and older ones. It can help you bring older videos back to life without deteriorating the images.
- Upscaling and Resolution Enhancement: This is the main thing the tool excels at, in my opinion. It can quickly increase the resolution of the video without compromising on the visual quality. It creates new pixels and other enhancement details with ease.
- Noise Reduction: The denoising capabilities of Topaz Video AI stood out as some of the best. It was easy to do and compressed artifacts easily without distorting other parts of the video.
- Preserves Natural Motion: Unlike other video editing software, this one did an excellent job protecting the natural motion the video already has. The temporal techniques allowed for original flow, and it doesn’t turn out to look overly AI or unlike the original video.
- It’s User-Friendly: The interface that Topaz released for this video editing software was one of the most user-friendly ones I’ve used. Importing videos, applying enhancements, and choosing from preset customizations was easy.
The Shortcomings of Topaz Video AI
As many things as there are to love about the Topaz Video AI, there were a few things that I think could use improvements or are generally just not worth it. The shortcomings of this software include the following:
- Hardware Requirements: While I didn’t struggle with the hardware requirements, I think they’re pretty tricky for many people to have. Even the minimum requirements that aren’t difficult to meet won’t run as well as higher specifications.
- Processing Time: I found the processing time to be overly time-consuming. While running it through the AI detection process didn’t take too long, the changes it would suggest took a lot longer than you would think it would work for a high-quality AI editing tool.
- User Control: Despite the user-friendly interface, it did take a little bit of getting used to when working with the platform. It requires a bit of trial and error, which, if you have the time, you might not have an issue with this.
- Over Enhancement: While the enhancement tool is one of the best things about the software, it sometimes tried to over-enhance the video to the point it looked weird and unnatural. You’ll have to tweak the settings to adjust this.
- Quality Limitations: The software does a pretty good job of enhancing the quality of videos, but it still has its limitations. It can’t magically create a perfectly clear video from a blurry one, so setting realistic expectations for the software is important.
- Source Content Limitations: I found the software works best with standard video footage. In my opinion, it didn’t do nearly as well with more artistic styles of videos, heavily edited video clips, or computer-generated images, but you might disagree.
Is Topaz Video AI for You?
With so many video editing software on the market, knowing which one to purchase and use for your videos can feel challenging.
That’s why it helps to read reviews from people who’ve tried the software to see if you can determine if it’s right for you. Remember that your experience with a specific software won’t always be the same as everyone else’s. You have to read reviews and often try the software yourself.
Why You Should Consider Topaz Video AI
There are many reasons why you should consider using Topaz Video AI for your video editing process. The main explanations you might want to consider implementing this software into your editing repertoire include the following:
- It has a user-friendly interface.
- Produces high-quality videos
- It can save you a lot of time.
- It can restore older video footage.
- You have more flexibility and customization options.
- Topaz offers regular software updates with new features.
- You have ongoing support from Topaz Labs’ customer service.
Why Topaz Video AI May Not Be Your Best Choice
Despite having some excellent features, there are some reasons why you might not want to invest your money and time into working with Topaz Video AI. Besides the shortcomings I mentioned earlier, these are the main reasons this won’t be your best choice.
Topaz Video AI has very specific computer requirements that allow the software to not only run but run smoothly on your computer. For those with an outdated computer or one that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, this software won’t be worth it.
Not meeting the minimum requirements will cause the software to either not work at all on your computer, or if you manage to get it downloaded, it will malfunction when you try to use it. You’ll want to put off trying this software until you get a more updated computer or a new one with the recommended hardware specifications.
While Topaz Video AI is an excellent tool for people to enhance their video footage, if you consider yourself someone with a lot of experience in Adobe Premiere Pro, then you might not find this software useful.
It has some great features, but Premiere Pro is more comprehensive, and if you have the skillset and know how to work with Adobe well, then spending your money on this additional software isn’t worth it for you.
For anyone with more editing experience, going with a tool other than Premiere might seem like a downgrade. That doesn’t mean you can’t use it, though. In fact, as of 2026 you no longer have to choose: Topaz ships a plugin that runs its models directly inside Premiere Pro, which we cover in the integrations section below.
Last but not least, if you consider yourself a purist, then there’s nothing that you’ll appreciate about this software. Or, if you understand it in the sense that you don’t care that other photographers and videographers use it, but it’s not for you, then it’s not what you’ll want to use.
Purists don’t believe in over-editing or enhancing video too much, and especially don’t use AI to alter their works because it takes away from “natural” images or video frames. Purists won’t enjoy working with Topaz Video AI unless they’re breaking free from their purist views on the craft and are ready to experiment with new software.
Deep Dive Into Topaz Video AI Features
Now that you have a decent overview of Topaz Video AI, let’s take a deep dive into the features, how to install the software, and more.
Installation & Setup
The installation and setup of the Topaz Video AI are pretty straightforward and simple as long as you have any basic computer knowledge. Here’s a quick glimpse of how to install the software onto your computer:
- Subscribe on the Topaz Labs website (or start with the free demo mode).
- Download the software to your computer.
- Download the installer and click on it once it’s finished downloading.
- Run the Topaz Video AI software installer and follow the directions as prompted.
- Follow all the on-screen instructions.
- Complete the installation
Setting up the software is even easier once everything is downloaded onto your computer. You’ll open the software via the desktop shortcut icon. From there, you have to activate the software by logging into your Topaz Labs account.
Importing, Browsing, and Organizing Video Clips
Before you can run the AI technology on your video footage, you’ll need to import the video into Topaz Video AI. To do this, you’ll need to make sure that the video footage is uploaded to your computer somewhere so you can access the file.
You’ll launch the software and then navigate to the “file” tab, where you’ll see an option to import files. From here, you’ll click on the video footage you want to use in Topaz Video AI.
Once you upload the video or videos that you want to work with, you can easily browse them and organize them in the catalog interface.
The catalog interface allows easy navigation of all the video footage you uploaded into the software. You can categorize it by the date you imported it, the name of the footage, and more. Regardless, it makes it easy to keep track of all your video footage in one place as you edit it to the quality that you want.
Exploring the Editing Interfaces
When you choose to use Topaz Video AI software, there are multiple editing interfaces that you can use. The software comes with a standard editing interface, one for AI and one that includes all the presets that are included with the software.
You can go to the standard editing interface once you import a video file into Topaz Video AI. This area allows you to make adjustments to the video on your own accord and toggle the settings based on what you think the video needs. Some of the features of the standard editing interface are:
- Noise reduction
- Resolution settings
- Temporal enhancement
- Sharpness
- Pre-processing options
Besides all the manual editing tools that you can use with Topaz Video AI, there are AI-driven editing tools. These are some of the main reasons the software appeals to photographers and videographers. Here’s a look at the AI editing tools and what they can do for your videos when you use this software:
- Detail Enhancement: Topaz Video AI goes frame by frame through your footage to pick out details that need enhancing. It can improve the texture of the footage and find hidden information that you might not have picked up on.
- AI Upscaling: Thanks to AI technology, you can use this software to upscale the video. It will maintain the quality of your video if you’re happy with it and enhance the overall quality if you’re not. It will create new pixels to help improve the quality and produce a higher-resolution video.
- Artifact Removal: Compression artifacts can ruin your video footage, and Topaz Video AI can easily remove these with its AI technology. It analyzes the video and removes artifacts that will improve the overall quality.
- Noise Reduction: The software uses AI tools to denoise any video footage that you import. It can automatically reduce the artifacts and grain when you shoot in low-light areas or with high ISO settings. This allows for a smoother and cleaner video.
- Motion Optimization: The best part of all the AI editing features is that it has motion optimization. It aims to keep all the natural movements in the video so that it doesn’t turn out to look overly AI. It enhances the video without taking away from the original flow of the video.
Lastly, the reasonably new preset interface with Topaz Video AI exists. It’s pretty minimal, but it provides some decent presets you can choose from if you want to play around with them rather than manually adjust the settings or use AI technology.
The presets range from different levels of sharpness, contrast, resolution, and more. While this is a great tool to have, it won’t work on most video footage, and your best bet is to manually adjust the settings yourself or utilize the specific AI technology.
Once you find a combination of settings you like, you can create your own presets and save them in the preset interface. Creating your own presets and adding them to the interface is great for having multiple videos shot in the same lighting. Still, you don’t want to have to adjust every video file individually.
Integrations: Topaz Video Inside Premiere Pro
For years Topaz Video was strictly a standalone round-trip: export your clip, process it in Topaz, bring it back. As of 2026 that’s changed in a big way: Topaz now offers a plugin that runs its enhancement models directly inside Adobe Premiere Pro, so editors can apply upscaling and enhancement without leaving their timeline. If Premiere is the center of your workflow, this quietly removes the biggest friction the software ever had. Standalone use remains the full-featured path, and it’s how I still use it for restoration projects.
Performance and Output
The performance of the software is pretty good as long as your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements for the software to run. Even with the bare minimum requirements, it did process videos of larger file sizes a bit slower than you’d think it would, but overall the performance isn’t bad. Renders are the real cost of this software: upscaling long footage to 4K is an overnight job on mid-range hardware, which is exactly why Topaz added the cloud rendering option for subscribers.
Pricing and Purchasing Topaz Video AI
Topaz Video AI isn’t free software, and the pricing model changed completely in late 2025, so here’s the current state of play.
Cost of Topaz Video AI
Topaz Video is now subscription only. The old $299 perpetual license (which included a year of upgrades) was discontinued in October 2025 along with perpetual licenses for all Topaz apps. Today you can subscribe to Topaz Video standalone, or get the Topaz Studio bundle at $399 per year, which includes Topaz Video, Topaz Photo, Gigapixel, and the cloud tools. For anyone using more than one Topaz app, the bundle is usually the better math. Check current pricing here, as Topaz adjusts plans and runs promotions through the year.
If you bought a perpetual license before the change, your version keeps working forever, but it’s frozen: new AI models and updates require a subscription. And be careful with third-party sites selling “lifetime Topaz Video licenses” today; those are resold old keys at best and scams at worst, so buy direct.
You can also try the software free in demo mode to test it on your own footage before subscribing, which I strongly recommend given the hardware sensitivity.
Special Discounts and Offers
Topaz runs promotions throughout the year where subscription pricing drops, with Black Friday reliably the biggest. If you’re not in a hurry, waiting for a sale is worth it.
User Support for Topaz Video AI
When it comes to using a platform like Topaz Video AI, knowing that there’s customer support there when you need it is vital. Topaz is a great company that provides all its customers with different backing on various topics.
Topaz Video AI for MacOS and Windows
Since Topaz Video AI is software, there are bound to be times when you run into issues. When you run into technical problems, you can contact Topaz Labs customer support for any questions that you might have.
You can contact them via live chat and email with any questions, comments, or concerns that you might have. They also have plenty of helpful documentation online that goes over everything from troubleshooting the software to the different filters and understanding the different preferences available on the software.
Learning Topaz Video AI: Is It Hard?
Whether you think learning how to work Topaz Video AI is hard or not will depend on your skill level with technology and just you as a person. Most people would agree that learning how to work Topaz Video AI isn’t challenging.
As with all editing software, there will be a learning curve, primarily if you haven’t worked with AI editing tools before or with videos. The good news is that it’s pretty simple once you catch on, and there are helpful guides so you can learn how to use the software the best way you can.
Learning Resources
Topaz maintains an excellent quick-start guide and documentation hub that shows you everything you need to know about working with the software. It goes over everything from the beginning, like how to install the software and get started, and then how to use the various tools and models to get the video result you’re looking for.
Alternatives to Topaz Video AI
I think many people will enjoy working with Topaz Video AI, but if you want to browse your options before committing to this editing software, here are alternatives you might want to consider.
Sometimes, you might feel like using Topaz Video AI for certain videos and then the alternatives for others.
Adobe’s Built-In Options
If you live in the Adobe ecosystem, you have some built-in paths before reaching for a dedicated tool. After Effects’ Detail-Preserving Upscale effect does a respectable job on modest enlargements, and Premiere’s scaling with sharpening can be enough for small bumps in resolution. What Adobe doesn’t have is a dedicated machine learning upscaler trained for extreme enlargement and restoration, which is exactly the gap Topaz fills. For serious upscales (SD to HD, HD to 4K) or damaged footage, the difference in output is not subtle. And as covered above, Topaz’s own Premiere plugin now brings its models into Adobe’s timeline anyway, so the two are complements more than rivals.
Aiseesoft Video Enhancer
Aiseesoft Video Enhancer is another editing software that allows you to adjust the noise and resolution and upscale your videos without compromising on the natural motion of the videos. It’s the most similar to Topaz Video AI of the alternatives I’ve brought up, but it does lack some of the most advanced AI technology.
It’s great for beginners, but if you have any interest in using AI to enhance your videos, then you might be better off with Topaz Video AI.
And if your quality problems are in stills rather than footage, the same technology exists for photos: our Topaz Photo AI review covers the photo sibling, and our Topaz Gigapixel review covers the dedicated image upscaler. For the wider field, see the best AI photo editors.
The Future of Topaz Video AI: Roadmap and Expectations
The direction of travel is clear from what Topaz has shipped recently: ever-better restoration and upscaling models (the newer generation can reconstruct detail that older versions could only sharpen), cloud rendering so the heaviest models run regardless of your hardware, and deeper integration into professional workflows, with the Premiere Pro plugin as the headline example.
Since Topaz Labs ships model updates continuously, and the subscription model now funds exactly that, subscribers get improvements the day they land. That’s the strongest argument for the pricing change, even if the change itself was unpopular.
Verdict: Is Topaz Video AI Worth It?
So, what’s the verdict on Topaz Video AI? It’s an excellent tool for videographers who aren’t pros at Premiere Pro, or any other software, and are looking for a way to streamline their editing process. While it’s not for everyone, a lot of people can benefit from the editing tools that Topaz Labs piled into this editing software.
Situations Where Topaz Video AI Shines
Topaz Video AI shines as an AI video editing software in many ways. It’s one of the best on the market for those just getting into using AI to edit their videos.
It provides you with a simple and user-friendly interface which makes editing even more straightforward. It also shines with motion optimization because it will edit your video without taking away from the natural movements that the video features. Other areas that this video editing software shines are:
- Easy enhancement
- Detail sharpening
- Noise reduction
- Restoring old family footage and archive material
- Upscaling SD or HD footage for modern 4K screens
When Not to Buy Topaz Video AI
As great as Topaz Video AI is, there are a few reasons why it might not be the best idea for you to buy. Some of those reasons:
- Your computer doesn’t meet the hardware requirements and you don’t want to use cloud rendering
- You don’t appreciate AI tools or have no interest in using them
- You don’t want another subscription for a tool you aren’t sure you’ll use often
Conclusion
Topaz Labs is a brilliant creator when it comes to editing software, and Topaz Video AI is no different from their other creations in that respect. It allows you to upload your video footage and use AI tools to automatically adjust the quality, sharpness, resolution, and noise so you can have clearer video in your finished product.
It’s an excellent option for anyone looking to get into AI video editing because it has a user-friendly interface and plenty of helpful documentation online to allow you to create the best videos possible. Just go in with clear eyes about the subscription pricing and the render times, and test the free demo mode on your own footage first.
Overall, Topaz Video AI is a solid choice for those looking to experiment with AI video editing.
