AI Old Photo Restoration

The AI Old Photo Restoration tool brings a damaged family photo back, whichever way you want to do it. Upload a scan, or a phone photo of the print, and for 1 credit you get a damage report: what is wrong with the photo and how badly, roughly when it was taken, what restoration can and can't recover, and a step-by-step plan to restore it yourself. Or let the AI restore it for you in about a minute, in black and white or in color, and compare the result with your original on a before-and-after slider.

What each step costs

Three ways to restore an old photo

Common damage and how it's fixed

How to scan old photos

• Clean the glass of the scanner with a microfiber cloth first; every speck ends up on the scan.
• Scan in color, even for black-and-white prints: it keeps the tones and makes stains easier to remove.
• Save as PNG or TIFF, not JPG, and keep this first scan untouched as your master copy.
• No scanner? Lay the print flat by a window out of direct sun, hold the phone exactly parallel, turn the flash off and fill the frame; or use a free scanner app such as Google PhotoScan, which removes glare.
• Stuck in an album? Don't pull it: scan it through the page protector, or photograph it in place.

Restore it yourself: the step-by-step workflow

1. Work on a copy. Duplicate the scan and never edit the master.
2. Straighten and crop to the photo area, leaving the torn border for later if the image continues into it.
3. Remove dust and specks with a spot healing brush (Snapseed: Healing; GIMP: Heal tool; Photopea: Spot Healing Brush).
4. Repair scratches and creases with a healing brush along each line, then use the clone stamp where texture needs matching.
5. Rebuild missing areas with the clone stamp or content-aware fill, borrowing from nearby areas with the same light.
6. Fix tone with levels or curves: set the darkest point to black and the brightest to white.
7. Correct color on color prints: remove the cast with white balance or per-channel curves until whites and skin look neutral.
8. Reduce noise and sharpen gently, only at the end and only a little.
9. Save a master as PNG or TIFF, and export a JPG for sharing.

The damage report turns this into a plan for your photo's actual damage, in the order to do it.

Colorizing old photos: what to expect

Black-and-white film records brightness, not color, so every colorization is an interpretation. The AI chooses plausible, period-appropriate colors: natural skin tones, muted fabrics, real skies and foliage. It can't know that a dress was pale blue or a car was red, so tell it in the note if you know. Sepia prints are toned black-and-white photos, not faded color ones; restore them as they are or colorize them.

Group photos and small faces

In a group photo each face may be only a few dozen pixels wide. The AI keeps faces as they are, but at that size it has to redraw some detail to make them look sharp, so a face can end up subtly different. Scan group photos at 1200 dpi, check each face with the slider, and keep the original for anything that matters, like a family tree.

Printing your restored photo

The restored image is ready for sharing and for small prints. For an 8 × 10 or a frame for a memorial, enlarge it first with the Image Upscaler.

Looking after the original print

• Store prints in acid-free sleeves or boxes, somewhere cool, dark and dry; never in a loft or basement.
• Don't tape, glue, laminate or write on the front of old photos.
• Handle them by the edges; fingerprints etch into the emulsion over time.
• Keep your scans in two places, such as a computer and a cloud drive.

Related tools

Need a sharper picture? Try the Image Enhancer. Transcribing a handwritten letter found with the photos? Use the AI Handwriting to Text tool. Or turn a photo into a drawing with the Photo to Sketch Converter.

Frequently asked questions

How do I restore an old photo?

Scan it (or photograph it flat, without glare), then repair it in order: straighten and crop, remove dust and scratches with a healing tool, rebuild torn or missing areas with a clone tool, and finish with levels or curves to bring back contrast. This tool writes that plan for your photo for 1 credit, or does the whole restoration with AI in about a minute.

Is it free?

The damage report, the era estimate and the step-by-step plan cost 1 credit, which your 3 free daily AI credits cover. The AI restoration creates a new image with a commercial image model, so it costs 50 credits and needs a plan or a credit pack. You're only charged if you get an image.

How much does it cost to restore a photo?

50 credits per restored photo. With the smallest credit pack (1,000 credits for $4.99) that is about 25 cents a photo; Pro's 500 monthly credits cover about 10 photos and Premium's 1,500 about 30. A professional retoucher typically charges far more per photo and takes days.

Will the AI change my family's faces?

It is told to keep every face, expression, pose, hairstyle and piece of clothing exactly as it is, and not to beautify, slim or smooth anything. Where a face is only a few pixels wide it has to redraw detail, and the damage report warns you when your photo has small faces. Always compare the result with your original using the slider.

Can it fix a torn photo with a missing piece?

Yes. Tears are rejoined invisibly and missing corners or pieces are rebuilt from the surrounding scene. Background areas come back very convincingly; if the missing piece contained part of a face, what the AI draws there is a reconstruction, not a record.

Can it restore faded color photos from the 1970s and 1980s?

Yes. Color prints from those decades fade unevenly, usually toward orange, magenta or yellow. Choose Restore, keep original colors: the cast is removed and the original colors are brought back without colorizing anything that wasn't there.

Should I colorize the photo?

Colorizing brings a black-and-white photo to life, but the colors are the AI's best guess, not a record. The report suggests whether your photo suits it. If you know a color, like a pale blue dress or a red car, mention it in the note so it can be used.

What resolution should I scan old photos at?

600 dpi for ordinary prints, 1200 dpi for small prints you want to enlarge, and 2400 dpi or more for slides and negatives. Save the scan as PNG or TIFF rather than JPG so it doesn't lose detail before you start.

What do I get, and can I print it?

A restored JPG to download, shown next to your original with a before-and-after slider. It is large enough for sharing and for prints up to about 4 × 6 inches; for bigger prints, enlarge it first with an upscaler.

Is my photo saved?

No. Your photo is only used to make your report and your restored image. It isn't stored or shared, and the result exists only in your browser until you download it.