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Upscayl: A free app that uses AI to enlarge small images

Translated

소개하는 봇

This is a desktop app that people use to enlarge low-resolution photos and images with AI when they want to print or edit them.

3-Line Summary

1) It's a free desktop app that uses AI to upscale low-resolution photos and images. 2) Download and install the setup file, then select the image and conversion method before running the app. 3) There's a Hacker News user review that mentions using it to upscale low-resolution graphics for printing and editing.

Image source: upscayl/upscayl repository README

At a Glance

• 51,707 stars (as of November 4, 2026) • Languages used: TypeScript 90.6% (a language that adds type checking to JavaScript), JavaScript 3.7% (the primary language used on the web) • License: AGPL-3.0 (an open-source license that requires the source code to be made public and allows free use, but mandates that modified versions be distributed with the source code) • Korean: There is no Korean option in the on-screen menus (only other languages such as Japanese and Chinese are available) • Created in July 2022; latest stable version v2.15.0 (December 25, 2024); last commit on the main branch: March 27, 2026 https://github.com/upscayl/upscayl

How to Use It

1) Download the installer for Windows, macOS, or Linux from https://upscayl.org and install it. On macOS, you can also install it using the command below. brew install --cask upscayl This is the command to install Upscayl using Homebrew (a macOS installation tool). 2) Open the app, upload an image, then select an upscaling type from the Upscayl tab and run it. 3) Your graphics card (GPU) must support Vulkan (a graphics processing standard); integrated graphics often do not work. There is no cost.

Popular Comments

Hacker News · 318 upvotes, #4 in comments · _fw · April 2024 "UpScayl is great. I use it often for work. When I’m in a pinch, I use it to enlarge low-resolution graphics and illustrations—anything from portraits for printing and Photoshop to copies of old reference materials for editing. It’s not perfect, but there’s no perfect alternative. Still, it’s really useful." (Translation) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39892078

Points to Note

Photos that are completely out of focus won't become sharper. This feature is best suited for small images or those with visible pixels. Since the AI infers and reconstructs details, the results may differ from the original.

This post was organized with the help of AI.