How to get Better Quality Screenshots & Video

Do you have potato pc or just generally can't run the game at high enough settings to get high quality screens/video exports?

Or maybe you just want to know how to get the best out of your exports

Well here's a guide on how to manually change your settings to you can take screens and export videos at what ever resolution you wish.

Introduction

First thing I should tell you is that this process is time consuming but then that is dependent on whatever you use to play the game.

I would suggest as a tip going into task manager and setting gta5.exe to high priority while its open since that will help the game load things faster.

Anywho, onto the guide.

Step 1

To begin, head into game and record all the clips you want to use (using the ingame feature).

You have to do it first or you'll just end up running back and forth wasting more time.

Also if it helps, lower your settings to get a better framerate while playing.

Step 2

After you have recorded said clips, change your resolution to 720p (16:9) since that will give you the most accurate look of what your final screen will be like.

Now in the rockstar editor, create a project and add the clips you want to use.

If you just want to take screenshots, leave markers at the points you want to take a screenshot from

If you want to export a video, edit it as normal.

(Example)

Step 3

After you have finished the project, exit back into storymode.

Now in storymode, go to settings and set them to high/ultra.

Also set your the game to "Windowed Borderless"

After you done this, close the game.

(Example Settings)

Step 4

After you've closed the game, open up file manger and go to the Rockstar Games folder located in My Documents.
After that, enter the folder "GTA V"

In here you should find a file called "settings.xml"
Here is where all the settings are stored for the game, open it up and search for

" <ScreenWidth value="800" />
<ScreenHeight value="600" />
"
This will be set to what your current resolution is.
Change it to 1080p by inputting whats below or any higher res

" <ScreenWidth value="1920" />
<ScreenHeight value="1080" />
"

After you have done this, save the file and restart the game

(Optional)

If you want to go further you can also change your aspect ratio to 21:9 for Ultra widescreen shots.

Just change

<AspectRatio value="0" />
to
<AspectRatio value="9" />

Extra Information

If you would like 1440p resolution, use these settings

<ScreenWidth value="2560" />
<ScreenHeight value="1440" />

If you would like 4K resolution, use these settings

<ScreenWidth value="3840" />
<ScreenHeight value="2160" />

If you would like 1440p UltraWide, use these settings with the 21:9 option

<ScreenWidth value="3440" />
<ScreenHeight value="1440" />

If you want to go even further, you can use This Mod [www.gta5-mods.com]which allows you to add graphical mods such as reshade & ENB and different codecs

Step 5

Now on the landing screen (or ingame depending on what you set it to)

Go to on the pause menu and to settings.
In settings toggle any setting to bring up the alert asking if you want to change the setting.
When that comes up, press No.

After doing that, the settings we saved should now come into effect. If your screens resoltion is under what you set (like mine) half the screen should be cut (in a way where you can only see the top left for example)

After this, navigate to the Rockstar Editor.

Final Step

Now in the rockstar editor, open up the project you made.

If you set it up for screenshots, edit the clips and navigate through your set markers taking screens along the way. Repeat for your other clips.

To turn off the HUD press "H"

If you set it up for video, head to export and set to high bitrate and 60fps.
Because the settings are higher than your system can run, it will take a long time to render depending on what's going on in the video and how long the video is (tip - rain renders unbelievably slow, try to avoid that)

After this is done exit the game and change your settings back whenever you wish (You don't need to go to settings.xml to change res, it can be reverted ingame)

That's pretty much it.

Example Photos

(The photos had to be compressed to be uploaded to steam)

Video Examples

Updated Notes

As I now have a better PC, I was able to experiement with the higher resolutions.

Note: When you set the resolution to one larger than screen size, the game leaks off the side which you're unable to see like mentioned in the guide however it's worth knowing the further away from your native res the less you can see for example the hud isn't visible at all when the res is set to 4k on a 1080p monitor.

I suggest taking screenshots with the hud on and off as you can't tell if it's there and then just deleting the screens you don't need afterwards.

The resolution doesn't seem to work with 4k 60fps however I still need to try 4k 30fps before writing that off completely.

Uncompressed 4k Images - https://flic.kr/s/aHsm75MXt7

Further Update (2023)

Still works, if you're having crashing issues then your graphics card most likely can't handle the amount of memory.

Also the Mod mentioned is unsupported so I don't know if that still works too

Previews:


Further Update (2023)

Still works, if you're having crashing issues then your graphics card most likely can't handle the amount of memory.

Also the Mod mentioned is unsupported so I don't know if that still works too

[Voyevoda]

This does still work in 2025, though the settings for 4K caused the game to not boot.
1440 ultrawide worked just fine. To anyone unsure about EVE being unsupported, you do need Voukoder 13.3 installed, as stated on the mod page, otherwise it'll crash when exporting.

[AwokenVoid]

There isn't any audio

[G1]

How to export the photos?

[[HSC.gg] MoravianLion]

I'm trying to use Extended video export on 1080p monitor, but with 4K resolution while windowed.

Unfortunately, everytime the game is asking me, if I want to revert changes (as in the tutorial), upon selection "No", nothing happens - resolution is still 1080p. What did I do wrong?

[TheSanPlayer]

When i´m going to render a clip it just crash..

[Kravence]

It should be

[👑 Supreme Worker 👑]

still working for video?

[Kravence]

Hmm, probably. That's odd though

[Kravence]

Ah, I'm guessing gta doesn't actually support it then, ill have to change that. have you tried 1440p ultrawide or 16:9 4k?

[Kravence]

But which one in particular? also what resolution is your monitor/screen