# Upscaling and enhancement — Tool Pantry

> AI upscalers compared: Magnific, Topaz, Upscayl, Real-ESRGAN, Clipdrop and Krea — which invent detail and which simply enlarge.

Source: https://toolpantry.app/ai/upscale

## About

A plain resize makes a bigger file. An AI upscaler guesses the detail that was never in the original. That is useful for photographs and disastrous for text, diagrams and screenshots, where you want a resize or a re-render instead.

## Tools

- **[Magnific](https://magnific.ai/)** (Hosted, Detail) — The detail-adding upscaler people cite by name. It invents plausible texture, which is the point and also the risk.
- **[Topaz Photo AI](https://www.topazlabs.com/)** (Desktop, Offline) — Denoise, sharpen and upscale in one desktop app, with everything processed on your machine.
- **[Upscayl](https://upscayl.org/)** (Open source, Desktop) — Free, open-source desktop upscaler with a handful of models. The no-account option.
- **[Real-ESRGAN](https://github.com/xinntao/Real-ESRGAN)** (Open source, Engine) — The open model behind a lot of other upscalers. Worth knowing because you can run it in a script over a whole folder.
- **[Clipdrop](https://clipdrop.co/)** (Hosted, Utilities) — A browser upscaler sitting next to cutout, cleanup and relight tools, useful when one image needs several fixes.
- **[Krea](https://www.krea.ai/)** (Hosted, Real-time) — Real-time generation and enhancement in the browser, with an upscale step that keeps you in the same canvas.


## FAQ

**Should I upscale a screenshot or a logo?**

No. They contain sharp edges and text, so inventing detail produces mush. Re-export at the right size, or vectorise it.

**Does upscaling bring back lost detail?**

It produces detail that looks right, not the detail that was there. For evidence, restoration or anything audited, say so.

**Local or hosted?**

Local if the image is sensitive or you have many files. Hosted if you need the best texture model and only have a few images.