What upscaling does
Stretching a small picture in an ordinary editor just makes the pixels bigger, so it turns soft and blocky. An AI upscaler has learned what real edges, hair, fabric and text look like, so it draws in the missing detail as it enlarges. Use it for old family photos, small product shots, screenshots, artwork and pictures you saved from a chat.
AI that stays on your device
Most upscalers send your photo to a server and make you wait in a queue. Here the model runs inside your browser, on your graphics card when it can and on your processor when it cannot. It is Real-ESRGAN, a compact open model released under the BSD licence. The model downloads once and then works offline, and your photos never leave this device.
Getting the best results
- Start from the original file rather than a screenshot of it, because every copy loses a little detail.
- Use 4x for small images such as icons, thumbnails and old scans. Use 2x when the photo is already a decent size.
- Big photos are processed in tiles, so they work on ordinary computers. A large photo on a phone can take a few minutes.
- The upscaler sharpens what is there. It cannot recover a face or a number plate that the original never showed clearly.
Questions
Why does the first photo take longer?
The first time, your browser downloads the model and the engine that runs it. Both are kept on this device, so later photos start straight away, even without a connection.
Which browsers work?
Current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all work. Browsers with WebGPU use your graphics card and are much faster.