Questions, answered plainly
Something else? The guides cover scanning, printing sizes, and color fixes in depth.
Is this really free?
Yes, completely. There is no watermark, no signup, no download paywall, and no limit on how many photos you repair.
What happens to my photo when I use this?
We process it to restore it and send the result back to you. Photos are deleted when processing is complete: never stored, never used for anything else. Nothing is saved in your browser either, beyond a copy of the photo held only while a restoration runs, so the page can pick the job back up if your browser reloads it partway: leave the page and both the photo and the result are gone.
Will the person still look like themselves?
Yes. Restoration works on the pixels in your scan: each face is rebuilt in place and blended back with the photo's own colors and grain, so your grandmother still looks like your grandmother, and the rest of the print keeps its real detail at full resolution. It is not an image generator drawing a new picture from a description, which is why faces and details do not drift into someone else. No signup, no watermark.
How does old photo restoration work?
First the whole photo is rebuilt in higher resolution with a super-resolution model (Real-ESRGAN), so grain, clothing, and backgrounds sharpen, not just faces. Then each face is found, aligned, and rebuilt with a dedicated face restoration model (CodeFormer) trained on millions of faces, and blended gently back in, keeping the photo's own colors and grain, so restored faces stay photographic instead of looking airbrushed.
How long does a restoration take?
Usually a few seconds. There is nothing to install.
What kinds of photos work best?
Scanned prints, faded color photos from the 70s–90s, blurry snapshots, and low-resolution digital photos with visible faces. For physically damaged scans (cracks, tears, creases) the Repair treatment (on by default) finds the damage and rebuilds only those areas.
Can it colorize black-and-white photos?
Yes. When a photo is black and white (or sepia), natural color is added automatically before faces are repaired. Untick the Colorize treatment before you start if you would rather keep the photo as it is.
What if my photo has no faces?
Everything else still applies: colorization and the HD rebuild run on the whole photo, and the face step is simply skipped. Landscapes, houses, documents: drop them in. The HD rebuild recovers real detail rather than just stretching pixels.
What happens to torn or scratched areas?
With the Repair treatment on (it is by default), the damage is detected automatically and only the damaged pixels are rebuilt from the surrounding photo. Everything undamaged stays exactly as scanned.
What if I need more than this tool can do?
For a print that needs more than a free pass (a much bigger enlargement, heavier damage, or a scan this phone or browser can't hold), Higgsfield Upscale is a paid cloud service that uploads your photo and rebuilds it up to 16×, with damage repair, face restoration and colorization. On the desktop, Topaz Photo AI is the usual alternative. This tool stays free either way. Try the cloud option at higgsfield.ai.