Introducing 4K Video Generation
Our video pipeline now supports 4K output — four times the resolution of our launch quality. Here's how we rebuilt the rendering engine and what it means for creators.
Why 4K matters
When we launched Canvas Labs, our video pipeline generated at 720p. It was fast and the quality was good enough for social media. But creators kept asking for higher resolution — especially those producing content for YouTube, presentations, and professional portfolios.
4K (3840×2160) is four times the pixel density of 1080p. At this resolution, AI-generated videos become indistinguishable from professional footage in many contexts. Text is sharp, skin textures are detailed, and motion artifacts that were visible at lower resolutions disappear.
Technical approach
We didn't simply upscale existing 720p output. Our approach generates natively at 4K using a cascaded diffusion architecture — the model first generates a temporal skeleton at lower resolution, then a specialized super-resolution stage adds high-frequency detail at full 4K.
This two-stage approach keeps generation times reasonable. A 5-second 4K video takes approximately 45 seconds to generate, compared to 12 seconds for the same clip at 720p.
Credit costs
4K generation costs more credits due to the additional compute required. Here's the updated pricing:
| Duration | 720p | 1080p | 4K |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 seconds | 10 cr | 25 cr | 45 cr |
| 10 seconds | 18 cr | 45 cr | 80 cr |
| 15 seconds | 25 cr | 65 cr | 120 cr |
Availability
4K video generation is available now for all Pro and Enterprise users. Starter accounts can access 4K at the standard credit rate — no plan upgrade required, just enough credits.
We'll continue optimizing the pipeline. Our goal is to bring 4K generation times below 30 seconds by Q3 2026.
Questions? Reach out at support@canvaslabs.us
