blockier

Blockier is a term primarily used in the context of digital media, particularly video games and streaming services, to describe a visual artifact that occurs when an image or video is rendered at a lower resolution than intended, resulting in a blocky or pixelated appearance. This effect is often noticeable when content is upscaled or downscaled improperly, leading to a loss of smoothness and detail.

The term originates from the visual distortion caused by block-based compression techniques, such as those used in older video codecs or when images are resized without interpolation. In gaming, blockiness can arise from rendering graphics at a lower resolution than the display’s native resolution, a technique sometimes used to improve performance. This is often referred to as "rendering at a lower resolution" or "render upscaling," where the game engine processes the scene at a reduced resolution before scaling it up for display.

Blockier is distinct from pixelation, which occurs when an image is displayed at a resolution lower than its original, making individual pixels visible. Blockiness, however, tends to manifest as a jagged or stepped appearance due to interpolation errors, particularly in areas with smooth gradients or fine details. This issue is more common in older games or when using outdated rendering techniques.

Modern solutions, such as advanced upscaling algorithms (e.g., NVIDIA’s DLSS or AMD’s FSR), aim to mitigate blockiness by intelligently reconstructing higher-resolution images from lower-resolution renders. These methods use machine learning or spatial filtering to reduce artifacts while maintaining visual fidelity. Despite these improvements, blockier remains a noticeable issue in certain scenarios, particularly in fast-moving or detailed scenes where interpolation struggles to maintain smoothness.