The present invention discloses a video surveillance adaptive display method and a device. The device comprises: a first acquisition module, a second acquisition module, a first judging module, a second judging module, a first determining module, a second determining module, a compression module and a display module. According to the disclosed video surveillance adaptive display method and device,a compression coefficient can be adjusted according to different graphics card performance so as to meet the display requirements in multiple scenes; it solves display problems caused by lack of performance of graphics card, thereby effectively reducing costs, and it is easy to use, which promotes user experience.