AI Upscale: settings and best results

What does AI Upscale do?

AI Upscale makes images 2 or 4 times larger, or up to an exact size, and rebuilds fine detail as it goes, on your own computer. Use it for small product photos, old web images, scans and logos that look soft or blocky when you enlarge them. You get one larger copy of each image.

It offers three treatments: one for clean photos, one for damaged or compressed photos, and one for artwork and text. By default it picks the right one for each image on its own.

01Step 1: Add your images

Click Tools in the sidebar, open the Image tab and click AI Upscale in the Edit section. You can also type "upscale" in the search box at the top.

Drop your images on the queue, or click it to pick files. Use JPG, PNG, WebP or BMP files. Click a file in the queue to see it in the preview.

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1. 1Original
2. 2Compare 3 treatments
3. 3Treatment
4. 4Output target
5. 5File
6. 6Run upscale

03Step 3: Compare the treatments

Not sure which treatment is best? Click Compare 3 treatments. The Compare treatments window shows the original and all three results side by side, and the one Auto would choose has an Auto pick badge. Zoom or drag any view and the others follow, so you compare the same spot.

Click a result to select it, then click Use treatment to apply it to the whole batch. Close the window to keep Auto.

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1. 1Original
2. 2Auto pick
3. 3Zoom
4. 4Use treatment

05Step 5: Run, then check the result

The line above the button sums up your choices, for example "Auto · 2× · same format", and the panel estimates how long the batch will take. Check where the files will go: Default output folder saves them in your workspace’s output folder, in an upscale folder with a subfolder for today’s date, such as 10-15. Click Change to pick another folder for this run. Then click Run upscale.

When the run ends, each image shows Done. Click View to compare it with the original, and Open folder to go to the files. Each one has -upscaled added to its name, for example juniper-shopfront-2019-upscaled.jpg. See See and compare your results and Where Hangar saves your files.

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1. 1Done
2. 2View
3. 3Saved to
4. 4Open folder

Every setting, and when to change it

Every image in the run gets the same settings. With Auto, each image still gets its own treatment.

Treatment

How detail is rebuilt. Auto picks one of the three for each image.

• RangeAuto for each image, Preserve photo, Restore damaged photo, Artwork & text
• DefaultAuto for each image

Output target

How much larger the result is.

• Range2×, 4×, Exact
• Default2×

Longest edge

With Exact, the length of the longest side. It must be larger than the original and no more than 4 times its size.

• Range256 to 16,384 px
• Default2,400 px

File

The file type of the result. Same keeps JPG, WebP and BMP as they are and saves other types as PNG.

• RangeSame, PNG, WebP, JPEG
• DefaultSame

JPEG quality

With JPEG, higher means better quality and a bigger file.

• Range70 to 100
• Default95

How to get the best results

• Start from the best copy you have. The less an image has been compressed or resized, the better the result.
• Keep Auto for each image for mixed batches. Photos, logos and screenshots each get the treatment that suits them.
• Use Compare 3 treatments on one typical image before a large batch, then apply the best one with Use treatment if Auto’s pick is not the one you like.
• Use 2× for most images, and save 4× for small originals that need the most enlargement.
• For logos and artwork with a transparent background, keep Same or pick PNG. JPEG places the image on white.

Images with small text

When an image has small, sharp text or interface edges, such as a screenshot, the panel shows "Small text detected" with an Open Resize button. Rebuilt letters can come out slightly different from the original. If the text must stay exact, enlarge the image with Resize images instead.

Why a result disappoints

• The result looks painted or too smooth. Try Preserve photo, which adds less.
• The result is still soft or blocky. Try Restore damaged photo.
• Letters or lines look wobbly. Use Artwork & text, or Resize images for exact text.
• Faces or small details look invented. AI adds believable detail but cannot recover what the original never showed. Use a larger original if you have one.
• A transparent logo came back on white. The File is JPEG. Pick PNG or Same.
• Run upscale is grayed out. A treatment still needs its download, or the size is too big. The panel says which one.
• A GIF, TIFF, AVIF or HEIC file failed. AI Upscale does not read these. Convert them to JPG or PNG with Convert images first.
• A file failed because the output would be too large. Pick a smaller Output target for that image.

For other errors, see A file failed: what to check.

Use it in a chain

AI Upscale is also a chain step, with the same Treatment, Output target and File settings. Download the treatments in the step first: a chain with an AI Upscale step will not start until they are on your computer. With Auto, that means all three. See Build your first chain.

Limits

• Reads JPG, PNG, WebP and BMP files. GIF, TIFF, AVIF and HEIC files and animated WebP files fail.
• The result is at most 4 times the original size, 64 megapixels in total and 16,384 pixels on the longest side.
• The result must be larger than the original. To shrink images, use Resize images.
• Each treatment needs a one-time download before first use.
• Everything runs on your computer. Nothing is uploaded.