Writer, Dungeon Master, creator. Likes to talk about game design. Follow him on Twitter @LordAdmiralJeff
September 29th, 2022

How to Increase Meta Quest 2 Resolution (Oculus Link)

One of the major selling points for the Quest 2 is the flexibility of being a standalone headset or using it for PCVR (both wired and wirelessly).

If you’re experiencing low resolution on your Quest 2 whilst using Oculus Link, don’t worry, I’ll show you how to increase your resolution by modifying some VR settings. You can achieve crystal clear resolution even without having a VR-Ready computer

Here’s how:

Why Does My Quest 2 Have Low Resolution?

In most cases, the reason your Quest 2 has a low resolution is due to your PC settings. Each PC is unique in its own right, so you’ll need to tweak each setting individually until you find the optimal setting to run games at high resolution. 

How To Increase Oculus Link Resolution

There are 3 requirements in order to get the most out of Oculus Link:

  • A good USB Cable (preferably USB 3.0 and a fiber-optic one)
  • A good PC that hits the recommended settings.
  • Have your GPU drivers up to date.

If you can check all these boxes, you’re off to a better start than most, but there is always more you can do.

Step One: Increase the Resolution in the Oculus App

The Oculus software for PC is necessary for more than just Air Link; you’ll also need it for Oculus Link. With it being installed, you can adjust the resolution in the app, all the way up to 5408 x 2736.

Oculus App Resolution Settings

Remember that the ‘recommended’ render resolution (the vertical line on the bar) will shift based on your refresh rate. If you plan to play at higher refresh rates, your resolution will change if you keep it on Automatic.

Overall, it would be best if you played around with this menu to find out what works best for you and your PC. Some prefer higher refresh rates and high resolution, but not every rig can handle that.

If your PC can’t handle a high resolution + high refresh rate, I recommend lowering refresh rate to 72 Hz and maxing out your resolution (depending on what your PC can handle).

Step Two: Use the Oculus Debug Tool

The Oculus Debug Tool is a convenient and dangerously powerful tool within the Oculus desktop app. This gives you even more customization options for your headset, but it can be overwhelming.

If you installed the Oculus app in the default location, you can find this tool under “C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics”. There are a lot of settings here, but we’re only going to cover the most impactful.

Oculus Debug Tool

  • Distortion Curvature will affect the pixel density at the center of the screen while decreasing it from the edges. In most cases, this will come to personal preference, so play around and find what works for you.
  • Encode Resolution Width allows you to adjust the pixels displayed in your image. It is default set to 0, making it dynamic between Air Link and Oculus Link. This requires you to play around with it, so start at 2800 and go up from there to a max of 4064.
  • Link Sharpening helps sharpen images, sort of like Anti-aliasing. It is set to auto by default, but you can turn it on, and you won’t see any performance loss.

Step Three: Increase the Resolution In SteamVR

The easiest way to adjust your resolution is with Steam itself. SteamVR allows you to change resolution globally or on a per-app basis, making it the ultimate adjustment tool. This is a setting in SteamVR that you’ll need to play around with.

Here’s how to change the render resolution in SteamVR:

  1. Download/install SteamVR (If you somehow haven’t already).
  2. Launch SteamVR while in VR.
  3. Go to General -> Render Resolution Per Eye -> Custom
  4. Move the slider to somewhere between 130% – 150%.

Steam VR Resolution Settings

This is a great rundown of the different percentages, in case you’re curious:

  • 150% is the cream of the crop if your PC can handle it. Anything above this will be diminishing returns, so don’t bother.
  • 130% resolution is the sweet spot for most gamers with average rigs, and it’s the safest option.
  • 100% looks okay, but it isn’t ideal.

Anything under 100% is awful, and we recommend a system upgrade if you can’t reach a stable 100%.

Step Four: Get A Better Head Strap for Better Sweet Spot

The default strap for the Quest 2 might cause blurriness which can be mistaken for low resolution. Upgrading to a new headstrap is an easy way to get your eyes aligned to the “sweet spot” in the lenses, letting you have a better view of the screens behind them.

I personally prefer the KiwiDesign headstrap, as a halo strap didn’t work for my head shape.

Step Five: Use Cloud Gaming if Your PC Isn’t Powerful Enough

Cloud gaming allows you to virtually connect to another machine that’s powerful enough to run your VR games.

If your PC isn’t powerful enough, you might want to try Plutosphere which allows you to play PCVR games on very high resolution without having a powerful VR-Ready PC yourself.

Do note, you’ll need a fast download speed for this (recommended = 50 Mbps).

Use Virtual Desktop

When in doubt, just go wireless! In my experience, the difference between wired and wireless VR is so tiny that I’d rather just keep it wireless and not worry about yanking a cable out of a port while I’m playing.

People think you need to be close to a router with super fast upload speed in order to use wireless. This is a common misconception.

The only thing you need is a router on the same network as your PC. This means you can buy a new router, connect it with a cable to your PC (without any internet) and you’ll be able to use Airlink or Virtual Desktop!

Virtual Desktop is a reasonably cheap software on the Oculus Store that allows you to connect wirelessly to your PC, and it comes with a ton of graphical options as well. When you pair it with SteamVR, you shouldn’t run into a single issue when gaming in VR.

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