Upscale an Image for Free

How to Upscale an Image. Key Steps.

1. Upload one or more images

There’s no need to wait - you can upscale photos as soon as you open the app. You don’t need to install anything, because Watermarkly is a browser-based app that works online. Import your files from your device, Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox or provide a direct link to the images.

Please note that :

• Your pictures should be in the formats that are supported by our app - JPEG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC, GIF or BMP.
• The free version of our photo upscaler allows you to upload only up to 10 files per day. Make sure that you’re not exceeding this limit.

2. Enter a new image size

If you need to upscale the entire picture, while the original aspect ratio and all the details stay intact, there are a couple of options that can help you achieve that. You will get amazing results no matter which one you choose. Go to Settings > Resize images > Select “Exact width”, “Exact height” or “Percentage”.

Let’s take a closer look at what each option can give you:

• Exact width. Here you’ll be able to change only the width of your image. For instance, if you have a photo with the width of 400 px and you need to increase its image size 4x times, you’ll need to enter “1600” in the input area. The height will be increased automatically, based on the aspect ratio. There’s a live preview in the settings that will show you what pixel dimensions your new image will have. It should be 4x times bigger.
• Exact height. This option works in the same way; except that here you’ll need to change the height. After you upload an image, enter the necessary number of pixels for the new height. Based on the aspect ratio, the width will be increased automatically.
• Percentage. This is an excellent option if you simply need to upscale a photo and your resized image doesn’t need to have specific pixel dimensions. By default, your original image is 100%. Thus, to upscale an image 2x times, you’ll need to enter “200” in the input area. If the image size needs to be 4x bigger, type in “400” and so on. Check the preview to make sure that you will get the necessary image size.

It’s worth noting that these aren’t the only options that you will find in the settings. You can increase the size of an image in any way you want. It all depends on your goals and preferences.

If you choose either “Exact Width & Height” or “No more than”, you will be able to change both the width and the height of your image. Thus, you will have more control over the new pixel dimensions.

In our app it’s possible to change the aspect ratio of your picture – this can be done by generating new pixels around the original image or by cropping it. Please note, though, that the cropping is automatic, and you won’t be able to adjust the cropping area.

Remember to enable the “High quality resize” option. The image upscaler will try to do everything in its power to produce an image of the highest possible quality. However, please, keep in mind that this will slightly slow down the upscaling process.

3. Download your upscaled images

Once you’re done with the settings, click “Resize Images” and wait for the app to finish the upscaling process. Your images can be downloaded to your device or saved to Google Photos or DropBox.

Don’t worry, your original images won’t get overwritten. You will get upscaled copies.

Now, you can compare your original photo with its upscaled copy. Check if the quality of the processed image meets your needs and expectations.

Upscale Image: How Long It Takes

Watermarkly’s image upscaler works right in your browser and doesn’t send your pictures to our servers for processing. Depending on the capabilities and performance of your device, it can take from 1 to 60 seconds to upscale a single image. It will surely take a bit of time, if your device is quite old, so, please, be patient.

Is it possible to speed up the upscaling process? Yes! A good graphics card can help you with that. Chrome-based browsers (e.g. Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera) allow us to use your graphics card during image processing, which makes the upscaling faster.

When You Might Need to Upscale an Image

Here are a few examples when you can utilize Watermarkly’s free photo upscaler:

• Prepare images for marketplaces. Our app can be a perfect choice for those who are doing e-commerce. It allows you to upscale your product photos, banners, or posters while improving their image quality. If you sell something on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or any other online marketplace, it’s vital for the buyer to see your product as clearly as possible. After all, they cannot touch or feel it. They are making their decision, for the most part, based on what they see. If your product is shown from only one angle and the picture is blurry, there’s a high chance that no one will buy it. People need to see your product from different sides. They need to be able to zoom in on the image to see everything clearly. Thus, it’s crucial for your product photos to look clear and sharp. High-quality images will surely stimulate people’s desire to buy.
• Prepare images for printing. It goes without saying, but if you want your printed images to look good, they need to have high resolution. So, what can you do if you need to print a small image of low resolution? You can use our free image upscaler to make your image bigger and sharper! You can increase the image size 2x,4x,8x or more times – your images will have high quality and resolution no matter what. Thus, they will look amazing once they are printed.
• Prepare images for high-resolution displays. Nowadays, more and more devices have high-resolution displays – and this is true not only for computers, but smartphones, as well. As you can guess, if you view small-sized, low-resolution images on a high-resolution screen, they will look unsharp and unclear. Thus, if you want to share these images online, it’s better to upscale them and improve their resolution. This way, they will look amazing on any modern screen.
• Make text more readable. Let’s say that your image contains some text – a signature, a watermark, contract details, personal information, etc – but it also has low-resolution, and thus all the letters look blurry, and the text is not clearly readable. You can try to fix this issue by upscaling your images with our app. Thanks to AI algorithms, every element of a picture will be improved, including the text.

Naturally, when you’re upscaling an image, there’s a limit to how much detail can be added to a small-sized image, how much the resolution can be improved. AI technologies has made this process much better than it’s used to. But even AI’s capabilities aren’t endless. Nevertheless, in many cases, increasing image size with the help of AI can significantly improve image quality and resolution. Thus, you’ll be able to use your image for whatever purposes you need.

FAQs

How to upscale an image without losing quality?

Technically, it’s impossible for a computer to take a small image and turn it into a large one while image quality remains to be impeccably good. However, thanks to recent advances in AI, upscaling a photo isn’t as challenging as it’s used to. You can actually get a sharp, clear and detailed image of high resolution after making it a few times bigger.

Visually, people won’t be able to guess that your image was upscaled. You need to keep in mind, though, that different apps utilize different algorithms and because of that the results will vary. It might be a good idea to try different apps and see which one produces the necessary results.

What does it mean to upscale an image?

Upscaling refers to increasing pixel dimensions and resolution of an image. Nowadays, a lot of apps utilize AI for this. To get a high-resolution photo, the AI analyzes the original image, generates new pixels and places them where necessary. It basically decides what details should be added as well as the best placement for them. AI’s main goal is to improve quality, increase resolution and make the upscaled picture look sharp and clear, avoid any blurriness or pixelation.

How to upscale an image to 4k?

This is pretty easy to do. Upload your photo into Watermarkly’s photo upscaler. Go to Settings > Resize Images. If you have a vertical photo, choose Exact Height. If you have a horizontal photo, choose Exact Width. To get a 4k image, you’ll need to increase the size of its longest side. Let’s say that you have a horizontal image. Choose Exact Width and enter 4000 px in the input area. Then simply start the resizing process and download the processed copy. Now you have a 4k image!

How to upscale an image for free?

You can upscale photos for free with Watermarkly’s online tool. Drag your files into the app and enter new pixel dimensions. Alternatively, you can make your image larger by a certain number of percent. Check the live preview to make sure that the new pixel dimensions will be as big as you need. Click the “Resize Images” button and download the upscaled copies. All done! Upscaling images is that simple and you don’t have to pay a cent for this!