While we increasingly want to give a modern photo a vintage look these days, the photos in old family albums often need some restoration instead. This applies not only to photos that are more than twenty years old, but also to very old photos of our great-great-grandparents, which can often benefit from some restoration.
Among the many online photo restoration tools, Generative Facial Prior (GFP-GAN) did a remarkably good job. At the time this article was originally published, it was also open source and free to use.
The app can enhance low-resolution old photos of loved ones, remove imperfections, and sharpen them so they look more like modern portraits. Simply upload a photo, and the results will be ready to view and download in no time.
Artificial intelligence expert Louis Bouchard of the YouTube channel What's AI (via PetaPixel) claimed that the tool, which was free at the time, appeared to work more impressively than similar alternatives. The version reviewed at the time was quite capable of filling in missing details in photos and adding pixels to create a clearer image.
Unfortunately, we—and apparently others as well—were unable to fully repair scratches and stains as shown in Bouchard's sample photos. It is unclear what steps are required to achieve those results. If it does not work for you either, you can of course still remove the scratches with photo-editing software such as Photoshop or Affinity.
At the time of publication, readers could visit the GFP-GAN app and create an account.
Update, August 18, 2026: the original link now redirects to a general Baseten sign-up page and no longer shows the GFP-GAN app. As an alternative, you could consider using Aiseesoft Image Upscaler, whose exact page was still available when checked.
This tool works well, but takes a little longer.
You can also read this article in Dutch here: Handige gratis app om oude foto's te restaureren.
