AI Photo Restoration Online Free
Restore photos, compare the result, and download a shareable file
Bring your photos back to life with AI-powered photo restoration. Upload a damaged, faded, scratched, torn, blurry, or water-damaged photo or image and get a cleaner restored result with a verified account.
Upload any photo to get started - account required; 2 free monthly credits
Restore Your Photo Now
A photo worth keeping.
Drop an old photograph here.
We’ll help you bring it back into focus.
JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC · up to 10 MB each
Choose up to 10 photos. One credit per edit.
Restore photos, images, and damaged pictures online
Use this page when you need a fast restore photo AI workflow for general damage. For very old archive prints, the old photo restoration page has more vintage-specific guidance.
Restore photo
Upload a faded, scratched, torn, stained, or blurry photo and create a cleaner restored candidate to compare with the original.
Restore image online
Repair digital images, scans, phone pictures, and downloaded photos without installing editing software.
AI photo restoration
Reduce visible damage and fading, then compare important details with the original. Protect faces to retain their original pixels.
Photo restoration online
Use the web tool for quick restoration before printing, archiving, sharing, or using the image in another project.
Restore damaged photos
Repair scratches, tears, stains, creases, missing edges, and water damage with one AI photo restoration workflow.
Recover faded images
Improve faded, yellowed, or low-contrast photos so faces, clothing, and background details are easier to see.
Prepare photos for sharing
Download a cleaner restored photo for family archives, memorial displays, albums, prints, and social sharing.
A fast restoration candidate, with the original kept in view
Manual photo restoration gives a skilled editor control over every repair, but it can take hours. AI restoration is useful when you want a quick first pass for a family archive, memorial, print, or sharing workflow.
The model generates plausible detail from what remains visible. That can make scratches, fading, stains, and blur less distracting, but it does not reveal information that is no longer present in the source. Faces, text, medals, uniforms, and large missing areas can change.
PhotoRestore therefore keeps the original beside the result. Protect every face when keeping people unchanged matters most. Unprotected areas can still be reconstructed by the model. Zoom in and compare every important area before printing or archiving the output.
Keep your untouched scan as the historical source. If accuracy is more important than speed, or the only surviving photo has severe damage, a professional restorer remains the safer option.
How AI Photo Restoration Works
Upload Your Photo
Upload your photo by clicking the upload button or drag and drop it directly into the tool. All common formats are supported, including JPG, PNG, WEBP, and HEIC. Flatbed scans and photos of printed pictures work great too.
AI Analysis & Repair
Mark each face you want to protect, then start the edit. The model uses the visible image as context to generate a repaired candidate. Missing or unreadable detail may be reconstructed rather than recovered.
Download & Share
Compare the original and result with the slider and 2× zoom. Download the image or share the actual file from a supported device; PhotoRestore never treats a temporary processing URL as a permanent share link.
What AI Photo Restoration Can Fix
Results vary by image and damage severity. These are common problems worth trying, followed by a careful before-and-after review.
Scratches & Scuffs
Remove surface scratches and scuff marks caused by handling, storage, or aging.
Fading & Discoloration
Restore natural color balance and vibrancy lost through years of light exposure and aging.
Tears & Missing Pieces
Reconstruct torn edges and fill in missing sections using intelligent content generation based on surrounding context.
Water Damage
Reduce water marks, staining, and warping effects on photos.
Yellowing & Age
Remove yellow or sepia casts that develop as photos age.
Creases & Folds
Smooth out crease lines and fold marks caused by improper storage or handling over time.
Foxing & Spots
Remove brown foxing spots and mold stains while preserving image sharpness and detail.
Blurriness
Reduce the appearance of blur, while recognising that missing detail may be invented. Protect faces to keep their original softness.
Why Choose AI Photo Restoration
Original-face protection
Mark each face to retain its original pixels in the working image, including existing blur and damage. Compare the full result with the original.
Before-and-after inspection
Drag the comparison slider, zoom to 2×, and keep the original visible while checking faces, text, clothing, and repaired areas.
Fast first pass
Many edits take 30–90 seconds. Your upload keeps processing if you leave the page, and completed results are available in your account.
Follow-up tools
Use a restored result as the input for colorization, quality enhancement, or print upscaling without uploading again.
Batch restoration
Queue up to 10 family photos, retry individual failures, and download the completed results together as a ZIP file.
Privacy Protected
Working photos are private and available in your account for 24 hours before automatic deletion. Runware may retain temporary processing files for up to 7 days. Download the result you want to keep.
Photo Restoration Use Cases
How to judge an AI restoration result
Start with the face and other identity-bearing details. Check whether the eyes, mouth, hairline, hands, clothing, text, and background objects still match the original. A result can look sharper while being less historically accurate.
Next, move the comparison slider across scratches, folds, water marks, and missing edges. At 2× zoom, look for repeated texture, smearing, halos, or invented lines. If the model changed too much, retry from the original with face protection.
Face protection retains damage within the areas you select. Turning it off allows the model to repair those areas, but can also change facial features. Missing historical information cannot be recovered with certainty.
Finally, keep the original scan and label the output as AI-restored when it will enter a family or historical archive. For irreplaceable photographs, use the generated result as a reference for a professional rather than replacing the source.
Photo Restoration FAQ
What is AI photo restoration?
AI photo restoration uses a generative image model to create a repaired version of a damaged or faded photograph. It can reduce visible scratches, fading, stains, and blur, but it cannot recover missing historical information with certainty. Always compare the result with the original.
How is AI restoration different from manual restoration?
AI restoration is a fast first pass that generates a complete candidate automatically. A professional restorer can make deliberate, localized edits and use historical context that an automated model does not have. Use AI for quick restoration and sharing; use a skilled professional when documentary accuracy or severe reconstruction matters.
How does the AI learn to restore photos?
The restoration model uses visual patterns learned during its provider's model training to generate plausible repairs from the surrounding image. PhotoRestore does not train models on your uploads. Because the result is a prediction rather than recovered hidden data, faces, text, uniforms, and missing areas deserve careful comparison.
How does AI photo restoration work?
Upload a scan or photo, mark the areas that must remain unchanged, and start restoration. The model returns a repaired candidate that you can inspect with the before-and-after slider, retry with different protected areas, enhance, upscale, download, or share as an image file.
Can you restore badly damaged photos?
You can try heavily scratched, torn, faded, or water-damaged photos, but severe damage gives the model less reliable evidence. Missing areas may be reconstructed with plausible new detail rather than the original detail. Keep the original file and treat a professional restoration as the safer choice for historically important photographs.
Is photo restoration free?
Yes. A verified account includes 2 free credits per calendar month, with no card required. Each AI edit uses 1 credit. Free processing is subject to daily capacity and fair-use limits; downloads and sharing are free.
How long does photo restoration take?
Processing often takes 30–90 seconds and sometimes longer. Once uploaded, a job continues if you leave the page. Keep the tab open to start remaining queued photos, and find completed jobs in your account.
What file formats are supported?
We support all major image formats including JPG, JPEG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC, and BMP. Files up to 10MB can be uploaded directly. Whether your photo comes from a scanner, smartphone camera, or digital archive, it will work without any conversion needed.
Will restoration reduce image quality?
Restoration can make damage less visible, but any generative edit can also smooth texture, change a face, or invent detail. Keep your original, inspect the comparison at 2× zoom, and try face protection when identity preservation matters more than removing every mark.
Is AI restoration as good as professional restoration?
AI can produce a useful result quickly, but it is not a substitute for a professional's judgment on every image. A professional can preserve documentary detail, repair selected areas by hand, and review historical references. Compare the AI result carefully and use a professional for irreplaceable or severely damaged originals.
Can I restore an image online if it is not an old printed photo?
Yes. This restore image tool works on scanned prints, smartphone photos, downloaded pictures, and existing digital images. Use it when you need to repair fading, scratches, stains, blur, or general damage and download a cleaner restored image online.
Can I use this as a restore photo AI tool with a verified account?
A verified account is required for AI edits. Start with 2 free credits each calendar month; no credit card is required. You can use the same account on the website and mobile app.
Should I use photo restoration or old photo restoration?
Use this page for general photo restoration and damaged images from any source. If you are restoring antique, vintage, or fragile family prints, use the old photo restoration guide for more scanning, preservation, and era-specific repair advice.
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Try it freeReady to Restore Your Photos?
Upload a photo, mark the areas that must remain unchanged, and inspect the before-and-after comparison. A verified account is required; no card is needed for your free credits.
Start Restoring Photos Now