Meta today introduced a new developer feature called Super Resolution that’s designed to improve the look of VR apps and games on Quest. The company says the new feature offers better quality upscaling at similar costs as previous techniques.

Meta today announced the new Super Resolution feature for developers on the company’s XR developer blog. Available for apps built on the Quest V55 update and later, Super Resolution is a new upscaling method for applications that aren’t already rendering at the screen’s display resolution (as many do in order to meet performance requirements).

“Super Resolution is a VR-optimized edge-aware scaling and sharpening algorithm built upon Snapdragon Game Super Resolution with Meta Quest-specific performance optimizations developed in collaboration with the Qualcomm Graphics Team,” the company says.

Meta further explains that, by default, apps are scaled up to the headset’s display resolution with bilinear scaling, which is fast but often introduces blurring in the process. Super Resolution is presented as an alternative that can produce better upscaling results with low performance costs.

“Super Resolution is a single-pass spatial upscaling and sharpening technique optimized to run on Meta Quest devices. It uses edge- and contrast-aware filtering to preserve and enhance details in the foveal region while minimizing halos and artifacts.”

Upscaling using bilinear (left), Normal Sharpening (center), and Super Resolution (right). The new technique prevents blur without introducing as much aliasing. | Image courtesy Meta

Unlike the recent improvements to CPU and GPU power on Quest headsets, Super Resolution isn’t an automatic benefit to all applications; developers will need to opt-in to the feature, and even then, Meta warns that benefits from the feature will need to be assessed on an app-by-app basis.

“The exact GPU cost of Super Resolution is content-dependent, as Super Resolution devotes more computation to regions of the image with fine detail. The cost of enabling Super Resolution over the default bilinear filtering is lower for content containing primarily regions of solid colors or smooth gradients when compared to content with highly detailed images or objects,” the company explains.

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Developers can implement Super Resolution into Quest apps on V55+ immediately, and those using Quest Link (AKA Oculus Link) for PC VR content can also enable the sharpening feature by using the Oculus Debug Tool and setting the Link Sharpening option to Quality.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."

  • So… Fidelity FX / just a sharpening filter, but in standalone…

    • Adrian Meredith

      It’s fsr 1.0 as far as I can tell yes. DLSS this is not. An ai based temporal solution could be a real game changer for standalone vr

      • namekuseijin

        perhaps on Q3 with all those nice ML cores…

      • Tanix Tx3

        Not with the current SoC. It’s just not capable to handle it.

  • NotMikeD

    Meta playing catchup to Guy Godin again I see.

    • Love that Guy

    • MeowMix

      could you imagine, with all the bureaucracy of Meta and the management teams, they pushed through a new feature, all built from the ground up, in only 2 months !! ….. /s

      or you know, Meta likely had this in the pipeline for a while

    • ViRGiN

      Oh, hey look, another guygodin bootlicker using Meta product to play exclusively shitty indies from SteamVR!

      • NotMikeD

        It’s ok, just show us on the doll where high-fidelity VR hurt you.

        • ViRGiN

          it’s ok, show us how many hours did you get in latest PCVR hits such as killer klownz, slopes, 69 ways to kill a zombie and machine learning episode 1, all purchased under 5 dollars combined.

          • NotMikeD

            I’ll have you know I prefer to view my Klownz in the full-fat, high polygon count variantz with 4k textures and with AI upscaling to feel as present in the Killer experience as possible.

          • ViRGiN

            I see. So you just follow trends, trying to play the cool things all the cool pcvr kids are playing. I wonder if killer klownz has the potential to crush gorilla tag pcvr dominance.

          • Frozenbizkit

            The Low Tier Troll here as always.. This person just doesn’t know when to STFU.

          • ViRGiN

            You’re still here yet peddling your nonsense?? Do you have a life to live or is this your life?

          • CrusaderCaracal

            pretty ironic coming from you mate

    • namekuseijin

      dude, it’s really just a Qualcomm technique

    • Tanix Tx3

      Already got my experience with super resolution.
      The most notable effect is the battery drain.

  • impurekind

    Simple clean polygons for the win then.

  • ZarathustraDK

    “Super resolution”…they better copyright that name before some unscrupulous people steal it…

  • ViRGiN

    Quest 2 was already awesome, I see it as “another day, another PCVR nail to the coffin”

    • Ookami

      LOL so you basically admit that literally everything revolves around (your hatred of) Valve and PCVR for you. Dude, just let it go. Gaben doesn’t even know you exist. It’s not healthy to obsess.

      • ViRGiN

        Your life is made up of searching anti valve comments? That’s your job and hobby?

        • Ookami

          I just have to look in the comments section and it’s there. It takes a maximum of 10 seconds to see it, read it, and reply. If you think that’s anything close to your staggering obsession with Valve, than I don’t know what to tell ya

          • ViRGiN

            Kope

          • Frozenbizkit

            We all know all these Quest 2’s and standalone HMDs will end up in a landfill near you while PCVR HMDs will be items you can use for as long as you want.

          • ViRGiN

            Problem is nobody wants to use them. You can collect hardware trash all you want.

        • CrusaderCaracal

          its not hard to find your comments, just have to find any article talking about vr headset updates and you’re whining in it already

          • ViRGiN

            And you immediatly jump into defence because… PCVR has failed?

          • CrusaderCaracal

            failed how, pretty sure vr started off with pcs. yes, the quest is being used more but thats because it’s cheaper. pc vr is still a huge market

          • ViRGiN

            Nobody takes PCVR serious.
            It’s a desolated place. It’s a huge market in your head.
            Consumers have chosen differently.

          • CrusaderCaracal

            it’s not a dead market, sure alot of people use standalones but there are pcvr exclusive games and pcvr games look better, sorry to break it to you dude

          • ViRGiN

            Lmao cope. You’re just toxic right now.

          • CrusaderCaracal

            I’m toxic? Take a look at your responses and tell me who’s toxic mate. Get a grip

          • ViRGiN

            Broken record

          • CrusaderCaracal

            You’re only describing yourself mate

  • namekuseijin

    another Quest 2 enhancement in exchange for a bit more stuttering

  • Tanix Tx3

    “The exact GPU cost of Super Resolution is content-dependent, as Super Resolution devotes more computation to regions of the image with fine detail. The cost of enabling Super Resolution over the default bilinear filtering is lower for content containing primarily regions of solid colors or smooth gradients when compared to content with highly detailed images or objects,”

    Solid colors, how could this improve it to scale the resolution up for solid colors?
    In short, where its needed it produces an extra gpu load. On the other hand the load is lower where its not necessary at all. Nice. (sarcasm)