Restore an Old or Blurry Photo

AI redraws faces, removes noise and softness, and can upscale the resolution. Processing runs locally on our own hardware, your photos never go to the cloud.

Restore an old or blurry photo

AI finds faces and redraws them, while removing softness and noise across the whole frame. Optionally upscales the resolution.

• No upscale
• ×2
• ×4

Drag a photo here or click to chooseJPG, PNG, WebP. Up to 25 MB, up to 8000 px on the long side.

Restoring your photo...

Tip: crop the photo to just the image itself, with no borders, background or neighbouring prints, and shoot the print straight on, without glare. The AI processes the whole frame, so extra margins steal quality from what matters.

While we prepare the photo: where should we send the file?

Optional. The email is used only for the file and one reminder.

Done

After payment, the same result without a watermark, at full size.

Change photo

A family archive? Manual restoration

If the photo is torn, faded or heavily scuffed, AI will not pull it off. The gdefoto team restores it layer by layer in Photoshop, keeping the individual features. From $19 per photo.

Order manual restoration

Before and after: an old photo restored

Drag the slider to compare the original with the restored version. Damage, blur and noise removed by AI. A real result from this tool.

beforeafter

Is the photo too precious to experiment with?A studio retoucher will restore it by hand: creases, cracks, stains, fading, faces and details, with a print-ready file. One photo $19, five photos with colorization $89. Fixed price, online payment, and a refund if we cannot improve it.
Order restoration by hand →

When restoration helps

• Old archival shots with scuffs and noise
• Blurry portraits where the face turned to mush
• Photos from cheap cameras or poor scans
• Family archive photos you need to enlarge and print
• Old JPEGs with visible compression artifacts

What the AI does

It finds faces in the photo and redraws them while keeping the person's features. At the same time it lifts the overall quality of the frame, removing softness, noise and artifacts. You can also upscale the resolution 2x or 4x.

Modes

Restore only (×1)

The photo is not enlarged, only sharpness improves and faces are redrawn. The result is no larger than 3000 px on the long side. Perfect if the source is already high resolution.

Restore + ×2

Also doubles the frame. Good for archival shots of 1000-2000 pixels on the long side.

Restore + ×4

Maximum upscale, for very small sources. Do not use on photos larger than 1500 pixels: the file will be huge and processing slow.

How to use it

1. Drag a photo into the upload area
2. Pick a scale (×2 by default)
3. Click Restore
4. In 3-30 seconds get a JPG

FAQ

Family archive, torn-off corners, serious damage, leave a request, and we will retouch it by hand in Photoshop.

How to get the best result

• Crop everything that is not the photo itself: the white edge of the print, the mat, the table, the shadow of your phone. The model processes the whole frame, and the margins throw off tone and colour on the image itself.
• A scan beats a photo. If you have no scanner, shoot the print straight from above in even daylight, without flash or glare on the glossy surface.
• Upload the maximum size: scan at 300-600 dpi. From a small file the model invents detail instead of recovering it.
• Scratches, stains, grain and fading are fixed well. Torn-off parts, lost faces and handwriting the model will not rebuild; that is a job for a retoucher.
• Restore before colourising and upscaling: a clean, contrasty source gives a better result at every following step.

If a face looks unlike the person after restoration, crop tighter around the face and try again: the model gets more detail to work with.

Family photos, memorials and gifts: what people restore most

Most old photos that reach this tool come from a shoebox, an album or a frame on the wall. Typical reasons to restore them:

• Memorial and funeral services. A clear portrait for the program, the easel print or the slideshow, often needed within a day or two.
• Anniversary and birthday gifts. A wedding photo of parents or grandparents, cleaned up and printed for a frame. See restoring an old photo as an anniversary gift.
• Family history and genealogy. Clean scans for a family tree, a reunion book or sharing with relatives.
• Digitizing an album before it fades further. No scanner at home: how to digitize old photos with a phone.

For a step-by-step walkthrough read how to restore an old photo online and the family photo restoration guide.

How big can you print the result

Print shops in the US and UK work in inches and usually ask for 300 pixels per inch. The pixels needed are simple to work out: inches times 300.

• 4×6 in (standard snapshot): 1200×1800 px.
• 5×7 in: 1500×2100 px.
• 8×10 in: 2400×3000 px.

The result is no larger than 3000 px on the long side, so it covers prints up to 8×10 in at 300 ppi. A small scan needs the ×2 or ×4 setting to get there. For a bigger print, run the restored file through Upscale image. To check your own numbers, use the pixels to inches converter.

Scratches, stains, tears: what to use for each problem

• Grain, softness, faded faces. This tool, in one pass.
• Fine scratches and creases. Usually smoothed out here too. Details in removing scratches and creases from old photos.
• Yellowing and colour casts. See removing yellowing and stains.
• A torn print or a missing corner. AI does not rebuild lost parts. Read how to restore a torn photo or order manual restoration below.
• A black and white photo you want in colour. Restore first, then open Colorize photo.
• A date stamp or a stain on the background. Brush it out with Remove objects.