Old photos: what we can improve
PhotoRescue can reduce noise and compression in an old digital copy, and enlarge a small scan for viewing or printing. It cannot repair scratches, tears or stains, reverse chemical fading, or colourise a black-and-white print. Keep the original scan and choose a tool only for damage in the digital pixels.
What can improve in a scan or digital copy
A scan may contain scanner noise, JPEG blocks from repeated saving, or mild softness. A faded print may also have a small, compressed digital copy: cleaning or enlarging that copy can improve its presentation while the fading itself remains. That distinction matters before you upload a family photograph.
For scanner noise, JPEG blocks and ringing, or mild softness, try Enhance, which keeps the size. It does not remove marks on the paper.
For a clean but small scan or digital photograph, use Upscale 4×, or 8× if the source is tiny. See upscaling for print to calculate the pixel target.
Enhance is designed for the combined noise and compression of phone photographs. It can add plausible fine texture, so compare it carefully on an old image rather than assuming it recovers the original film grain or a person’s features.
Scratches, tears, stains and faded colour need other work
A scratch or tear replaces part of the photograph with a mark or a gap. PhotoRescue has no tool that fills those gaps or removes stains. Chemical fading and colour casts need careful colour correction; our tools do not reconstruct the original colours or colourise black-and-white photographs.
Scan the print at the highest useful resolution your scanner supports before editing, and save a lossless master. If it needs physical damage repair, use a manual restoration workflow or an experienced restorer. Preserve an untouched copy so later work is not based on generated texture.
Check a small area before processing the whole collection
Try one representative scan. Compare skin, eyes, handwriting, clothing and edges at the same size; a smoother face is not necessarily a more faithful one. Do not repeatedly process a result to chase sharpness. Missing facial detail, unreadable handwriting and severe blur remain uncertain.
We have no production before-and-after of a physically damaged print demonstrating scratch or tear repair, and make no such claim. Our testing method and limits explains what the published engine comparisons establish. For a personal keepsake, choose the version you prefer; for records or identification, keep the original.