Lossless Scaling is a Steam utility that adds frame generation and scaling, including to games that don’t offer them. This guide explains how it differs from the solutions built into games, and what that costs.

Quotation marks give the exact wording of the Steam page or of the developer’s announcement. Sentences that start with “Our reading:” are this guide’s own explanation.

What Lossless Scaling is

The Steam page lists THS as the developer and gives a release date of “28 Dec, 2018” (Steam store page). It says Lossless Scaling is “compatible with most games, even those that don’t have built-in frame generation or scaling”, and that it also works “with other applications and a wide range of hardware” (Steam store page). It pairs LSFG frame generation with scaling methods, including “machine learning models like LS1” (Steam store page).

Two features, two different jobs

Frame generation (LSFG). The Steam page says LSFG “creates additional frames”, and calls it a “proprietary machine learning model developed from scratch specifically for Lossless Scaling” with “a separate performance model for low-power GPUs” (Steam store page). Our reading: the additional frames make motion on screen look smoother, while the game itself does not render more frames.

Scaling. The Steam page describes scaling as “lowering the original resolution and applying upscaling to recover some of the quality”, and says it suits “pixel art games that don’t support modern resolutions or fullscreen mode” (Steam store page). It lists the methods this way: “LS1, FSR, NIS are well-suited for modern games”, “Integer, XBR are ideal for pixel art games” and “Anime4K is great for cartoons or anime” (Steam store page).

Our reading: FSR and NIS here are scaling methods offered inside Lossless Scaling, not the frame generation or upscaling that a game’s developer builds in, such as DLSS or FSR frame generation, which receive data directly from the game (see below).

Why it works without game support, and what that costs

Frame generation built into a game receives data from it. NVIDIA’s integration guide says “All the required inputs are passed to Streamline, including depth buffers, motion vectors, HUD-less color buffers” (NVIDIA Streamline: getting started). AMD says FSR 3.1 “requires an integration via the FidelityFX API”, and that its Frame Generation Prepare function “takes motion vector and depth scene data pre-upscale” (AMD GPUOpen, FSR 3.1). AMD’s FSR 3 integration guide lists an option to “Provide a HUD-less texture to frame interpolation for automatic detection and composition of the UI” (AMD FSR 3 integration guide).

Our reading: Lossless Scaling does not receive these inputs from the game, which would explain its compatibility with games that have no built-in frame generation, and means it works from less information than a solution built into the game.

Trade-off 1: image quality

Our reading: generated frames are estimates rather than frames the game renders, so they can show visual errors such as flickering or artifacts near the edges of the image. The developer’s announcement lists “Reduced flickering and border artifacts” for LSFG 3 (developer announcement on Steam, “2.13 released | 3.0 beta”, 10 Jan, 2025). That is a statement about that release. It does not describe how the current version behaves. For scaling, the Steam page says upscaling is applied “to recover some of the quality” (Steam store page).

Trade-off 2: latency

Our reading: generated frames do not come from new game updates, so they smooth motion without making the game respond faster. The developer’s announcement reports latency testing: “approximately 24% better end-to-end latency” in OSLTT testing at 40 base FPS and X2, “compared to LSFG 2”. It does not say who ran the test (developer announcement on Steam, “2.13 released | 3.0 beta”, 10 Jan, 2025).

Trade-off 3: GPU headroom

The Steam page says: “Free GPU resources are preferred, otherwise Lossless Scaling will affect the game’s original frame rate.” (Steam store page)

Your options: fixed or adaptive frame generation

The Steam page says the Fixed mode “allows you to multiply the original frame rate” and the Adaptive mode “lets you specify a desired frame rate” (Steam store page). Our reading: “original frame rate” means the rate before frame generation is applied.

The announcement says “LSFG 3 also introduces an unlocked multiplier, now capped at X20”, and that “Higher multipliers (e.g., X5 or above) are best suited for high refresh rate setups” (developer announcement on Steam, “2.13 released | 3.0 beta”, 10 Jan, 2025).

The Steam page describes frame generation as “perfect for games that lack a built-in solution or require new hardware” and also as suited to “older games and emulators with a locked frame rate” (Steam store page).

A simple setup, step by step

1. Run the game in windowed or borderless fullscreen mode. The Steam page says “Only windowed and borderless fullscreen modes are supported” and “Exclusive fullscreen mode may work only if the Lossless Scaling output is configured for a second display” (Steam store page).
2. Lock the game’s frame rate. The announcement says “For best overall experience, locking the game framerate is recommended”, and that this helps “to avoid 100% GPU load (reducing its impact on latency)” and ensures “smoother framepacing” (developer announcement on Steam, “2.13 released | 3.0 beta”, 10 Jan, 2025).
3. Start from a playable base frame rate. The announcement says “A minimum of 30 FPS is required (40 FPS or higher is preferred, with 60 FPS being ideal) at 1080p” (developer announcement on Steam, “2.13 released | 3.0 beta”, 10 Jan, 2025). Our reading: frame generation works from the frames the game actually renders, so a base frame rate that already feels playable is the sensible starting point.
4. At higher resolutions, consider the Resolution Scale option. The announcement calls it “an excellent way to further reduce GPU load” and advises using it “to downscale input to 1080p” at higher resolutions (developer announcement on Steam, “2.13 released | 3.0 beta”, 10 Jan, 2025). Set it according to the documentation for your version of Lossless Scaling.
5. Choose a mode and a scaler. Fixed mode multiplies the original frame rate, and adaptive mode lets you specify a desired frame rate. The Steam page says “LS1, FSR, NIS are well-suited for modern games” and “Integer, XBR are ideal for pixel art games” (Steam store page).
6. Save a game profile. The Steam page describes Game Profiles as “automatically applying your chosen settings and scaling whenever the game executable is detected” (Steam store page).

Using a second GPU

The Steam page says “A great feature of Lossless Scaling is the ability to offload computations to a second GPU”, and that applying frame generation or scaling this way “won’t affect the game’s original frame rate and may reduce latency” (Steam store page). Our reading: results depend on your hardware and configuration, since the page says “may” and does not promise that performance is fully preserved.

When it makes sense

According to the Steam page quoted above, Lossless Scaling suits games that lack a built-in solution or require new hardware, and older games and emulators with a locked frame rate.

When it is not worth it

This section is this guide’s own assessment, not Steam’s wording.

• Where a game offers integrated DLSS or FSR frame generation, those receive data from the game, as the NVIDIA and AMD documentation above describes. Lossless Scaling does not.
• If your GPU is already at full load, the Steam page says Lossless Scaling will affect the game’s original frame rate.
• If the game feels unresponsive at its base frame rate, frame generation will smooth the motion but will not make it respond faster.

To find out what limits your frame rate before you choose between software and hardware, read our gaming PC performance guide.