- What does AI photo restoration do?
- It runs two AI passes on your photo: a face restorer reconstructs the faces (the part most damaged in old prints — eyes, mouth, skin texture, hair), and a background enhancer cleans up and sharpens everything else (clothes, background, objects). The output is a 2× larger PNG with much more detail than the input.
- How is this different from PhotoRestore.io, Vance AI, or Remini?
- Three things. (1) Free with no sign-up — PhotoRestore.io and Vance AI collect emails or charge per photo, Remini gates restoration behind a subscription. (2) Studio-grade restoration model — quality on par with the paid services. (3) No queue — your photo runs immediately, unlike MyHeritage's photo enhancer where free users wait.
- Is this a free alternative to MyHeritage's photo enhancer?
- Yes for the restoration / enhancement step. MyHeritage's value-add is the family-tree integration (auto-linking restored photos to a genealogy graph) — if you're not building a family tree, this tool covers the restoration half for free.
- What kinds of damage does it handle well?
- Excellent: blur, low resolution, soft focus, mild scratches, mild fading, JPEG compression artifacts. Decent: heavy scratches, slight color shift, motion blur. Hard: severe physical damage (torn, missing pixels), heavy stains, severe color fading. For severely damaged photos, the AI may invent plausible-but-incorrect detail in the missing regions.
- Will it colorize black-and-white photos?
- Restoration keeps the original palette — a black-and-white input comes back black-and-white but sharper. To add color, use our dedicated Colorize Black & White Photo tool, which runs the same AI chain with a full-colorization pass. For damaged B&W photos: restore here first, then colorize.
- Can it restore non-face photos (landscapes, objects)?
- Yes — when no face is detected, the AI just runs the our AI upscaler cleanup pass, which sharpens edges, removes noise, and upscales 2×. Faces aren't required.
- Does it work on group photos or portraits with multiple faces?
- Yes — our face restoration AI detects every face in the photo and restores each one. Group photos with 5-10 faces are handled cleanly in one pass.
- What's the maximum resolution it can handle?
- Free tier: up to ~12 megapixels (e.g., 4000×3000) per photo. Larger images take more time + memory; Pro plans extend the limit.
- Is the AI photo restoration free?
- Yes — 3 restorations per hour on the free tier, no sign-up needed for short bursts. Pro users get unlimited restorations and higher resolution caps.