An in-depth look at NVIDIA's DLSS technology, exploring how machine learning upsampling, transformer architectures, and frame generation allow GPUs to render games at lower internal resolutions while maintaining visual fidelity across more than 1,000 titles.
In practice, when you enable DLSS, your computer doesn't try to draw the game at your monitor's final resolution. Instead, it first displays it at a lower native resolution to reduce system fatigue. It then uses machine learning algorithms to upscale and clean up the image to fit the screen.
When used in a title, this technology allows you to crank up the graphics settings to higher levels while maintaining smooth motion. Alternatively, you can use it to achieve even faster motion, which is useful if you have a monitor with a high refresh rate.
The different functions and image quality
Although the result helps significantly, using DLSS involves a certain loss in image quality, which depends on the mode you choose:
- Quality: The card renders the game at 66,7% of the final resolution.
- Balanced: The card renders the game at 58% of the final resolution.
- Performance: The card renders the game at 50% of the final resolution.
- Ultra Performance: The card renders the game at 33,3% of the final resolution and is intended for 8K resolution displays.
How technology evolved
The original version of DLSS was released in 2019, alongside the RTX 20-series graphics cards. At the time, NVIDIA had to train the algorithm separately for each game. The second version was released in 2020, which removed this limitation. As of early 2025, more than 1.000 games and apps offer support for DLSS.
DLSS 4 was released in early 2025, bringing a new transformer-based machine learning architecture. This version can cause worse performance on older graphics cards due to higher requirements, so NVIDIA offered default settings for older models.
At the same time, the company added various features over time:
- Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA): It works on a clean image instead of reducing resolution, making the image more stable and reducing flicker.
- Frame production: It was introduced in DLSS 3 for RTX 40-series graphics cards and above, generating an intermediate frame between every two traditionally drawn frames. DLSS 4 offered multi-frame rendering for RTX 50-series cards, reaching the limit of six rendered frames for every drawn frame with DLSS 4.5 in March.
- Beam reconstruction: Introduced in DLSS 3.5 as a cleanup algorithm to reduce visual imperfections from real-time lighting effects.
- DLSS 5: It interprets colors and motion in games to apply AI-based lighting and materials, without improving frame rates.
As of October 2026, DLSS 5 is officially available in just one game, NBA 2K27, although mod developers have leaked it and added it to other titles as well.
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