Upscale images 8× online

8× multiplies the width and the height by eight, so the picture gets 64 times as many pixels. A 320 × 213 thumbnail becomes 2560 × 1704. A 960 × 540 image becomes 7680 × 4320, the size of an 8K screen.

The output is limited to 80 MP, so Upscale 8× accepts images up to 1.25 MP, for example 1280 × 960. Larger files are refused before upload, and no credits are used. If your image is bigger than that, Upscale 4× is the better tool anyway.

Out of every 64 pixels in the result, only one is backed by a pixel from your original. The other 63 have to be rebuilt. That is where 8× differs from 4×, and why it suits some photos far better than others.

Rebuilding 64 times the pixels takes much more GPU work than any other model on the site, so one photo with Upscale 8× uses 2 credits. Every other model uses 1. On the free plan that means one 8× photo and one other photo per day; Pro includes 200 credits a month and Pro+ 500. The pricing page has the details.

Upscale 8× first reconstructs the large shapes, edges and colours from your image. A detail model then fills each region with the fine texture a sharp photo of that kind of surface has: rock strata, snow crust, bark, roof tiles, water. The texture follows the shapes and colours that are really in the original, so a cliff stays that cliff and a building keeps its windows where they were.

Be clear about what that means: at 8× the fine texture is reconstructed, not recovered. It is plausible and natural, but it is not a record of what the scene looked like at that resolution. For landscapes, nature and architecture that is what you want for a poster. For evidence, documents, licence plates or a face you need to recognise, it is not. Text in the photo is protected and not guessed, so it stays as soft as in the original.

The model does best where the scene is made of natural textures and clear large shapes:

• Mountains, coastlines, forests, deserts and other landscapes.
• Architecture and cityscapes seen from a distance or from above.
• Old thumbnails and small web images you want to print as a poster or show on a 4K or 8K screen.
• Backgrounds and textures for design work.

Choose Upscale 4× for faces, products and anything where exact detail matters, or whenever the original is larger than about 1 MP: 4× changes the image less and stays closer to the source. If your small image is also noisy or compressed, run Enhance on it first, because at 8× every speck of noise would be enlarged sixty-four times.

A 2560-pixel-wide result prints at about 22 cm (8.5 inches) wide at 300 pixels per inch, and twice that at 150 for a poster viewed from a couple of metres. A 7680-pixel result reaches about 65 cm (25.6 inches) at 300 pixels per inch. The print-size calculator works it out for your exact image, and the guide to poster sizes lists the pixels each format needs.