Midjourney —quality (—q)
The --quality parameter (short form --q) tells Midjourney how much GPU
time to spend on a render. More time means more fine detail and texture — and
a larger draw on your subscription’s compute budget. Used well, it lets you
explore cheaply and spend your full quality only on the images that earn it.
How it works
Midjourney offers three usable values: 0.25, 0.5, and 1 (the
default). The number is roughly proportional to render time, so --q 0.25 costs
about a quarter of a default render and lets you generate about four times as
many images for the same compute. Critically, quality only affects detail and
texture — it does not change composition, color choices, or how closely the
image follows your prompt. That’s why low quality is perfect for fast
exploration: the layout you’ll get at --q 1 is already visible at --q 0.25.
Tips and examples
- Explore at 0.25, finalize at 1. Burn through many cheap drafts to find the composition you want, then re-run that exact prompt and seed at full quality.
- Simple subjects don’t need full quality. A flat icon or minimalist logo
often looks identical at
--q 0.5— save the credits. - Busy, detailed scenes benefit most from —q 1. Foliage, crowds, intricate textures, and fine patterns are where the extra render time shows.
- Quality is independent of composition. If a draft’s layout is wrong, a higher quality won’t fix it — change the prompt instead.
When each quality level is the right choice
The practical decision comes down to what stage of the work you are in and how detailed the subject matter is:
--q 0.25 — Ideation runs. At a quarter of the default cost, this is the right setting when you are exploring a new prompt and want to see what direction the model takes without spending your full compute budget on every variation. Composition, color palette, and overall concept are already clear at this level; fine textures and edge detail are not yet rendered fully.
--q 0.5 — Review-quality output. For sharing a work-in-progress with a client, checking that a layout works before committing to a final render, or generating reference images you will trace or repaint yourself, half quality often looks nearly indistinguishable from full quality at normal viewing sizes. Simple subjects — flat graphic styles, minimalist product shots, solid-color backgrounds — rarely benefit from stepping up to --q 1.
--q 1 — Final deliverables. When the output is going directly into print, a presentation, or a portfolio, use the default quality. Complex scenes with foliage, fabric, crowds, architecture, or intricate patterns are where the extra render time is most visible — the difference between 0.5 and 1 in a detailed cityscape or a close-up portrait with skin texture can be significant.
Quality vs. upscaling
--q 1 improves the detail in the initial 1024-pixel grid image. Upscaling (using Midjourney’s Upscale buttons or external tools) adds resolution and sharpness to a selected image from the grid. For the cleanest final output, generate at --q 1 to get the best base image, then upscale from there. Upscaling a --q 0.25 draft may produce a larger but still-soft result because the underlying texture was never fully rendered.