Microsoft appears to be preparing an AI upscaling feature similar to DLSS for PC games. X user Phantom Ocean3 I discovered the feature inside the latest beta builds of Windows 11 over the weekend, with Microsoft describing Automatic Super Resolution as a way to “use artificial intelligence to make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced detail.”
This sounds very similar to Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which uses AI to upscale games and improve frame rates and image quality. AMD and Intel are also offering their own versions, with both FSR and XeSS becoming increasingly popular in recent PC gaming releases.
Microsoft has yet to officially announce this new ultra-resolution feature, so it's not clear exactly how it will work, nor whether it will require any specific hardware. Nvidia's DLSS powers the tensor cores shipped on its RTX lineup of graphics cards, while both AMD's FSR and Intel's XeSS are powered by their own GPU hardware.
Microsoft is also working on improving Windows 11's color management feature, which will be especially useful for the latest round of OLED displays that use HDR technology. Windows has lacked a good operating system-level color management system for years, leaving PC gamers having to add custom color profiles in a dialog box that looks like it shipped in Windows 95.
With the upcoming changes, color management will be integrated into the main display settings area of Windows 11, allowing PC users to set color profiles for sRGB and DCI-P3. There's also a new feature that automatically controls these various color profiles.
“Automatic color management makes sure your apps and other content have accurate colors on this screen,” Microsoft says about this color management feature. It's not clear if this will allow Windows 11 users to easily change gamma curves. Hopefully this means Microsoft is investing more in HDR support on Windows, which could lead to a lackluster desktop experience if enabled system-wide.
“Freelance web ninja. Wannabe communicator. Amateur tv aficionado. Twitter practitioner. Extreme music evangelist. Internet fanatic.”