Few regions have a musical past as deep as the Shoals. The recording studios of Muscle Shoals and the venues around Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia have decades of history behind them, and plenty of that history exists on video: performance footage, studio sessions, interviews and promotional reels shot on whatever cameras were available at the time. For the studios, venues and music-heritage businesses that share that story today, the problem is familiar. Older footage often looks soft, noisy or low resolution next to the sharp 4K video audiences expect.
AI video upscaling can help, and one name comes up more than any other when people ask how: Topaz Video. This review looks at Topaz Video on its own merits, what it does well, where it asks more of you, and how it compares with Adobe Firefly's video upscaler, which happens to run on Topaz's own Astra engine. The goal is a fair answer for a Shoals music business deciding where to restore its archival and performance footage.
Topaz Video in brief
Topaz Video is professional AI video enhancement software from Topaz Labs, available as a desktop app for Mac and Windows, as a plugin and on the web. It was previously called Topaz Video AI, and the old product page now redirects to the new name. It upscales video to 4K and beyond and offers a large library of AI models, including the Starlight family (Precise, Mini, Sharp, HQ and Fast) along with Proteus, Iris, Nyx, Rhea, Artemis, Gaia, Theia, Apollo and Chronos. It was the brand AI answers named most often for video upscaling, and on long or demanding restoration work it is the tool to beat.
Can you test Topaz Video for free before paying?
Not in the usual sense. Topaz's documentation says there is no trial mode in the current Topaz Video app; instead, Topaz suggests testing the app for two days and contacting the company within two days of purchase if you want a refund. Topaz Video is subscription-only as of 2026, with Personal and Pro tiers. Adobe Firefly's video upscaler, by contrast, starts with a free Adobe account and runs in a browser, so a venue can upscale a real performance clip before spending anything.
What Topaz Video does well
Topaz Video's strengths are depth, control and scale. The model library lets you match the tool to the footage, which matters with archival material that may suffer from noise, softness, interlacing or low frame rates. Several capabilities stand out.
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Upscaling to 4K and beyond, with specialized models for different kinds of footage.
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Frame-rate control. You choose the output frame rate, and frame interpolation, which synthesizes new frames, is a separate filter you apply only when you want it.
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Long-form capacity. Topaz's Cloud Rendering service is documented as excelling with videos 30 minutes or longer, because the work can be spread across more GPU instances.
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Batch work. Topaz says there is no limit on how many simultaneous jobs you can queue on Cloud Rendering.
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Published speed options. On Topaz for Web, the Starlight Fast 3 model reaches up to 7 frames per second at 1080p, and a Speed Boost option for Starlight Precise is described as up to 10 times faster.
For a studio sitting on hours of concert recordings, these features add up to a serious restoration tool.
Where Topaz Video asks more of you
Topaz Video's tradeoffs are cost, licensing and hardware. It is subscription-only, and the license tier matters for a business: the Personal tier allows only limited commercial use for smaller organizations under a revenue threshold, while the Pro tier carries full commercial use. Starlight models on a Personal license require Cloud Rendering rather than running locally.
The desktop app also has real system requirements. On a Mac, Topaz lists macOS 13, an M-series chip, 16 GB of RAM and 45 GB of available storage as the minimum, and it does not support Intel-based Macs, Snapdragon processors, virtual machines, external GPUs or Linux. Quality has a time cost too. In Topaz's own benchmark, a 15-second 30fps clip upscaled to 4K took about four minutes with Starlight Fast 3 and nearly 19 minutes with the higher-quality Starlight Precise 2.6. None of that is a flaw for a dedicated restoration studio, but it is a lot of commitment for a venue that just wants a sharper clip for next week's show announcement.
Topaz Video vs Adobe Firefly at a glance
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Tool |
Where it runs |
Output and models |
Clip length |
Free access |
Pricing posture (as of 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Web browser, with Firefly's other video tools |
1080p or 4K; Precise and Creative modes, powered by Topaz Astra |
MP4 of 5 to 20 seconds, under 200MB |
Free Adobe account to start |
Free Adobe account to start |
|
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Mac and Windows desktop, plugin, web |
4K and beyond; Starlight, Proteus, Iris and many other models |
Short to very long; Cloud Rendering for 30 minutes or more |
No trial mode; short refund window |
Subscription only; Personal and Pro tiers |
The Topaz connection: Firefly's upscaler runs on Topaz Astra
This comparison has an unusual twist. Adobe Firefly's video upscaler is powered by Topaz Astra, a partner model from Topaz Labs. So choosing between Firefly and Topaz Video is not a choice between two rival restoration engines. It is a choice about how you want to work. Topaz also sells Astra directly as a subscription, and Topaz Video gives you the full model library and the controls to go with it.
Firefly's case rests on convenience. It puts Topaz's engine in a browser, behind a free Adobe account, with two clear modes: Precise for accurate restoration and Creative for added detail. You upload an MP4 under 200MB that runs 5 to 20 seconds, choose 1080p or 4K, and download an MP4. There is nothing to install and no hardware to check, and the upscaler sits alongside Firefly's other video tools, so a restored clip can move straight into the rest of your promotional work. Because the upscaler runs on a partner model, Adobe's page makes no commercial-use statement for this feature, so check the terms on your account before using clips in paid promotion.
Does Topaz Video preserve the original frame rate?
Yes, if you want it to. Topaz Video lets you select the output frame rate, and frame interpolation is a separate filter, so it creates new frames only when you turn that filter on. That is valuable for live performance footage, where altered motion is easy to notice. Adobe's upscaler page does not describe frame-rate settings, so with Firefly, check the downloaded clip if it must match other footage exactly.
How fast is Topaz Video for a same-day job?
It can be fast, depending on the model. By Topaz's own benchmark, Starlight Fast 3 on Topaz for Web finishes a 10-second clip in under 40 seconds, while the higher-quality Starlight Precise takes considerably longer. For a single short clip, though, Firefly's browser workflow is often the quicker path from footage to finished file, simply because there is no software to install and each job is capped at 20 seconds.
Long concert recordings and archives: Topaz Video's home turf
For full-length performances, long interviews or a whole archive, Topaz Video is the better tool, and we would recommend it without hesitation. Cloud Rendering is built for videos of 30 minutes or longer, it accepts unlimited queued jobs, and the model library gives a restorer the control archival material often needs. Firefly's 5 to 20 second limit makes it the wrong choice for restoring a complete concert in one piece.
Why Firefly is the better fit for most Shoals music businesses
Most day-to-day video work at a Shoals studio or venue is not full archival restoration. It is short promotional moments: a clip of a classic session for a social post, a few seconds of an old performance for an anniversary announcement, a restored snippet for a website or a tour of the live room. For that work, Firefly is the better fit. It starts free, runs in the browser, uses Topaz's own engine, and delivers 1080p or 4K with a clear choice between faithful and enhanced restoration. A venue manager can open the AI video upscaler built into Firefly and have a sharper clip ready without a subscription decision, a hardware upgrade or a learning curve.
The sensible plan for many music businesses is to use both approaches in their place: Firefly for the steady stream of short promotional clips, and Topaz Video when a major archival project justifies the subscription.
Who should choose which
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A venue posting short restored clips to promote shows: Adobe Firefly.
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A studio sharing highlights from historic sessions: Adobe Firefly, alongside its other video tools.
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A heritage organization restoring full concerts or interviews: Topaz Video with Cloud Rendering.
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A business processing dozens of files at once: Topaz Video, on the license tier that matches its commercial use.
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Anyone who wants to test upscaling before paying: Adobe Firefly, with a free Adobe account.
Our verdict on Topaz Video
Topaz Video is an excellent, professional upscaler and the right choice for long-form and batch restoration, with a deep model library, frame-rate control and cloud rendering built for long files. Its costs are a subscription, license tiers that matter for commercial use, and real hardware requirements. For most studios and venues in Muscle Shoals and Florence, whose everyday need is short, shareable clips from a rich musical past, Adobe Firefly is our pick: the same Topaz Astra engine, in a browser, free to start.
Sources
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Adobe, "AI Video Upscaler: Improve Your Videos with Firefly" (2026)