Short answer: Lossless Scaling is a paid Windows app sold on Steam by its developer, THS. On September 26, 2026 it cost $6.99 in the US, £5.89 in the UK, €6.89 in Germany and A$10.25 in Australia, with no discount running. Its LSFG frame generation adds generated frames to almost any game running in a window or borderless fullscreen, even games with no frame generation of their own. The developer recommends a base frame rate of at least 30 FPS, ideally 60, and locking the game’s frame rate. It supports a second GPU to do the frame generation. Generated frames aren’t real game frames, and settings trade smoothness against latency, so start with the developer’s defaults.
What Lossless Scaling is and what it costs
Lossless Scaling calls itself an “all-in-one gaming utility for frame generation and scaling.” It was released on Steam on December 28, 2018, and THS is listed as both developer and publisher. It does two separate jobs:
- Frame generation (LSFG) creates extra frames between the ones your game renders, to make motion look smoother.
- Scaling lets you run a game at a lower resolution and upscale it, with options including LS1, FSR, NIS, Integer, xBR and Anime4K.
Prices on the Steam store, checked September 26, 2026:
| Store region | Price |
|---|---|
| United States | $6.99 |
| United Kingdom | £5.89 |
| Germany (EU) | €6.89 |
| Australia | A$10.25 |
Steam prices change during sales and vary by country, so check the store page before you buy. The developer’s “Official Pages” post on Steam lists losslessscaling.com, its Discord servers, the r/losslessscaling subreddit and its Crowdin translation project. It’s a paid app, so a “free” copy from anywhere else isn’t a legitimate one. Our fake download sites guide explains the risks.
What LSFG frame generation does
The store page says LSFG “creates additional frames to make games look smoother.” It’s aimed at games that don’t have built-in frame generation, games that need newer hardware for it, and “older games and emulators with a locked frame rate.” The developer describes LSFG as a “proprietary machine learning model developed from scratch.”
There are two modes:
- Fixed multiplies the frame rate by a set amount, such as 2x or 3x.
- Adaptive (AFG), added March 8, 2025, targets a frame rate you choose, even if it isn’t an exact multiple of the game’s frame rate. The developer says it gives “smoother frame pacing than fixed multiplier mode,” particularly for games capped at rates that don’t divide evenly into your monitor’s refresh rate, such as 60 FPS on a 144 or 165 Hz screen.
The developer is clear about AFG’s trade-off: because it “generates most of the displayed frames, the number of real frames will range from minimal to none,” GPU load may rise and image quality may be slightly lower than fixed mode.
Version history, from the developer’s announcements:
- LSFG 3 (January 10, 2025): new architecture, multiplier unlocked up to x20, 40% lower GPU load at x2 than LSFG 2.
- LSFG 3.1 (June 11, 2025): image-quality improvements and a new Performance Mode with “up to 2x GPU load reduction” at “a slight reduction in image quality.”
- Performance Mode Hotfix (July 14, 2025): the latest announcement on the Steam page when we checked.
Requirements
From the Steam store page:
- Windows 10 version 2004 or newer. Windows 11 24H2 is recommended.
- Windowed or borderless fullscreen games only. “Exclusive fullscreen mode may work only if the Lossless Scaling output is configured for a second display.”
- Graphics: “Modern integrated graphics” minimum. Recommended: GeForce RTX 30 series, Radeon RX 6000 series or Intel Arc.
- Spare GPU capacity. “Free GPU resources are preferred, otherwise Lossless Scaling will affect the game’s original frame rate.”
On Linux, the store page says LSFG is available “through a community-driven port,” lsfg-vk. Bazzite’s FAQ says owners of the Steam version can set up the LSFG Vulkan layer from Bazzite Portal. See Bazzite vs SteamOS if you’re choosing a Linux OS for a handheld.
Recommended settings, as the developer documents them
The LSFG 3 announcement gives these recommendations:
- Base frame rate: “A minimum of 30 FPS is required (40 FPS or higher is preferred, with 60 FPS being ideal) at 1080p.”
- Lock the game’s frame rate. The developer says this “helps to avoid 100% GPU load (reducing its impact on latency) and ensures smoother framepacing.”
- Higher resolutions: use a higher base frame rate, or lower the Flow Scale setting (formerly called Resolution Scale): 75% for 1440p and 50% for 4K.
- High multipliers such as x5 and above suit high refresh rate screens. The developer’s examples are 48 FPS x5 for 240 Hz, 60 FPS x6 for 360 Hz, and 60 FPS x8 for 480 Hz.
The Adaptive Frame Generation announcement adds the Queue Target setting:
| Queue Target | What the developer says |
|---|---|
| 0 | Unbuffered, “for the lowest latency.” Performance “may suffer under high GPU load or with an uncapped base game framerate.” |
| 1 (default) | Buffered with a queue of 1. “Maintains low latency while better handling variations in capture performance.” |
| 2 | Best for an uncapped or unstable base frame rate and high GPU load, “though it may introduce higher latency.” Also recommended for multipliers below 2. |
Two more notes from the same announcement: LSFG 3 turns frame generation off if the base frame rate drops below 10 FPS, and the WGC capture method needs Windows 11 24H2. On earlier versions it falls back to DXGI.
If you’re on a handheld, run the game in borderless or windowed mode. Our Handheld Companion guide covers frame limiting and TDP on Windows handhelds.
Dual-GPU setup
The store page says: “A great feature of Lossless Scaling is the ability to offload computations to a second GPU. This means applying frame generation or scaling won’t affect the game’s original frame rate and may reduce latency.”
The developer’s own documentation on dual-GPU setups is short. What it states:
- A second GPU can handle frame generation or scaling so the main GPU keeps its full frame rate.
- For uncapped games, Adaptive Frame Generation is “the recommended approach when using LS on a secondary GPU.”
- Exclusive fullscreen “may work only if the Lossless Scaling output is configured for a second display.”
The “Dual-GPU Guide/Overview” pinned in the official Steam forum links to a video and a written guide by a community member, IvanVladimir04, plus a community spreadsheet of second-GPU capability. None of it is written by THS. It’s useful for step-by-step setup, but treat it as community advice, and ask on the developer’s Discord before buying a second GPU just for this.
Latency and quality caveats
- Generated frames aren’t game frames. In Adaptive mode, the developer says the share of real frames can be “minimal to none.”
- High GPU load raises latency. That’s why the developer recommends locking the game’s frame rate below your GPU’s limit.
- Buffering trades latency for smoothness. Queue Target 0 has the lowest latency. 2 is smoother under load but may add latency.
- Base frame rate matters. Below 30 FPS, the developer says results are outside the recommended range. At 1080p, 60 FPS is ideal.
- The developer’s latency figures are relative. The LSFG 3 announcement reports about 24% better end-to-end latency than LSFG 2, tested with OSLTT at 40 base FPS and x2. It doesn’t claim zero added latency.
Online games and anti-cheat
The developer’s store page says: “The community has found Lossless Scaling to be safe to use with online games that have built-in anti-cheat systems. However, this cannot be guaranteed and should be used with user discretion.”
That’s the developer’s full statement, and it’s not a guarantee. We found no game publisher or anti-cheat vendor statement that names Lossless Scaling. If you play a competitive game, check that game’s own rules on third-party software.
What Lossless Scaling is not
- It’s not free. It’s a paid Steam app. There’s no official free version.
- It’s not the same as in-game DLSS or FSR frame generation. It works from a capture of the game window; the developer’s announcements describe its capture engine and capture APIs. If your game has native options, compare both. For NVIDIA’s tools, see DLSS Swapper vs NVIDIA App override.
- It doesn’t work in exclusive fullscreen unless its output goes to a second display.
Lossless Scaling is bought and updated through Steam.
Questions
How much does Lossless Scaling cost?
$6.99 in the US, £5.89 in the UK, €6.89 in Germany and A$10.25 in Australia on Steam, checked September 26, 2026.
Is there a free version of Lossless Scaling?
No. It’s sold on Steam, and the developer lists no free version.
What is LSFG?
Lossless Scaling Frame Generation, the app’s own machine-learning model that creates extra frames between the ones your game renders.
What base frame rate do I need?
The developer says at least 30 FPS, preferably 40 or more, with 60 FPS ideal at 1080p.
Does Lossless Scaling add input lag?
The developer’s settings trade latency against smoothness. It recommends locking the frame rate and Queue Target 0 or 1 for lower latency.
Can I use two GPUs with Lossless Scaling?
Yes. The developer says a second GPU can take over frame generation or scaling, and recommends Adaptive mode for uncapped games.
Does it work in exclusive fullscreen?
Only if Lossless Scaling’s output is set to a second display. Otherwise use windowed or borderless mode.
Can I get banned for using Lossless Scaling?
The developer says the community has found it safe with anti-cheat games but that this “cannot be guaranteed.” We found no publisher statement that names it.
Does Lossless Scaling work on Linux?
LSFG works through a community port called lsfg-vk. Bazzite’s docs describe setting it up for people who own the Steam version.
What Windows version do I need?
Windows 10 version 2004 or newer, with Windows 11 24H2 recommended.
Sources
- Lossless Scaling on Steam (price, requirements, features, anti-cheat note), Steam, checked September 26, 2026 for US, UK, German and Australian stores
- Official Pages, Lossless Scaling Steam forum (developer post)
- LSFG 3, Lossless Scaling, January 10, 2025
- Adaptive Frame Generation, Lossless Scaling, March 8, 2025
- LSFG 3.1, Lossless Scaling, June 11, 2025
- Performance Mode Hotfix, Lossless Scaling, July 14, 2025
- Dual-GPU Guide/Overview, Lossless Scaling Steam forum (community guide)
- Bazzite FAQ (Lossless Scaling on Bazzite), Bazzite Documentation
