Scratches, dust, and small creases
The automatic pass can reduce narrow surface marks and isolated dust without asking you to paint a mask. Broad tears or missing corners are less predictable and should be reviewed carefully.
Photo restoration online
Photo Restoration
Upload one old photo, choose conservative restoration or GPT Image 2.5, then inspect the split view before you download.
Conservation darkroom
Restore Your Photo Online
Upload one old or damaged photo, choose conservative restoration or GPT Image 2.5, and inspect the split view before downloading.
01 / SourceOne image
JPG, PNG, or WebP · maximum 5 MB
02 / Restore256–4,096 px per side · ≤ 16 MP
Source—
Processing1K · auto aspect
10 credits for this runView pricing
Output preview
Your restored photo will appear here
Upload a supported old or damaged photo to verify its size and prepare conservative restoration or GPT Image 2.5.
Illustrative AI-generated examples, not measured production outputs. Actual results vary.
Single portrait with surface wear
Faded multi-person family print
Noisy, low-resolution damaged scan
Start in the workbench The first screen is the working restoration studio. Choose the engine, confirm credits, and keep colorization, enhancement, and enlargement as later choices.
Repair scope
What Photo Restoration Can Repair
Old photographs contain several kinds of degradation at once. This automatic pass is aimed at common visible wear, while the original remains the reference for every judgment.
Noise, compression, and mild softness
Digitized prints often combine scanner noise, JPEG blocks, and soft edges. Restoration can make those distractions less prominent, but it cannot prove details that were never captured.
Fading and weak tonal separation
A restrained correction can improve legibility in faded prints while being instructed to retain the original black-and-white, sepia, or color state. It does not intentionally colorize monochrome history.
Practical workflow
How to Restore an Old Photo Online
Good restoration starts before the upload. Keep an archival copy of the original scan, use the highest honest resolution available, and treat the generated file as a viewing derivative rather than a replacement master.
- 01
Scan or photograph the original well
Use even light, avoid reflections, and capture the print as straight as possible. A clean source gives the restoration more trustworthy evidence.
- 02
Upload one supported photo
Choose a JPG, PNG, or WebP file up to 5 MB, with each side from 256 to 4,096 pixels and no more than 16 megapixels.
- 03
Choose the restoration engine
Sign in and pick conservative restoration at 10 credits or GPT Image 2.5 at 15 credits. Both runs use the same identity-preserving brief. There is no free-text prompt.
- 04
Compare before downloading
Drag the split view across every face, hand, inscription, uniform, and repeating pattern. Download only when the result still agrees with the source evidence.
Restoration cases
Judge the Result Against the Original
These illustrative, AI-generated examples show common damage patterns; they are not measured outputs or a performance benchmark for the production restoration service. Actual results vary, so inspect your result against its source.
Single portrait with surface wear
A studio portrait with scratches, dust, fading, and mild softness. The repair targets visible wear while keeping facial structure, hairstyle, clothing, grain, and monochrome character recognizable.
Faded multi-person family print
A group photo with low contrast and age-related marks. Every face should be checked separately because small features are the easiest place for an automatic reconstruction to become inaccurate.
Noisy, low-resolution damaged scan
A difficult scan with creases, speckle, compression, and weak detail. The result can become easier to view, but missing text and large destroyed regions still require human judgment or manual retouching.
Historical Authenticity and Limits
A restored photo can be clearer and more complete-looking without being documentary proof. When pixels are destroyed, some visible detail is inferred rather than recovered historical fact. That is especially important for faces, medals, uniforms, handwriting, dates, architecture, and objects with family or legal meaning.
Preserve the untouched scan, label generated derivatives, and ask relatives or an archivist to compare uncertain details. This tool is deliberately instructed to retain the original color state; optional colorization would add another layer of interpretation.
Privacy, Storage, and Deletion
Upload only images you have the right and consent to process. Signed-in restoration tasks and results can appear in My Creations so a task can be recovered after a temporary connection problem.
The current storage backend has no automatic expiry for uploaded or generated image objects. Delete in My Creations calls the authenticated creation-delete endpoint and soft-deletes the task record from account history; it does not delete the underlying image object or provider copy. Review the Privacy Policy and contact support before uploading especially sensitive family material.
Commercial comparison
Online Photo Restoration vs Restoration Studio vs Desktop Editing
Choose the path that matches the job. This page is for restoring old photos online with a tracked, identity-preserving pass. A conservation studio and a desktop clone-stamp workflow solve different problems.
This online photo restoration tool
- Best for
- Old prints with scratches, dust, fading, noise, and localized wear that you want to inspect in a browser
- Control
- Two billed engines, a fixed conservative brief, and a before-and-after review. No free-text prompt
- Tradeoff
- Fast and consistent, but uncertain missing detail may be inferred
Professional restoration studio
- Best for
- Heirloom prints, severe tears, missing corners, or archives that need a conservator’s written judgment
- Control
- Human inspection, physical repair, and documented conservation notes
- Tradeoff
- Highest accountability for unique originals, with appointment time and studio cost
Desktop clone-stamp and neural filters
- Best for
- Operators who already own layered files and want pixel-level local edits
- Control
- Manual masks, clone stamps, and local neural filters on a workstation
- Tradeoff
- Maximum local control, with more software skill and no built-in task recovery
Tool specifications
A Deliberately Focused Restoration Path
The workbench accepts one JPG, PNG, or WebP image up to 5 MB. Each side must be between 256 and 4,096 pixels, and the image must stay within 16 megapixels. Conservative restoration costs 10 credits. GPT Image 2.5 costs 15 credits. Both return a 1K result at an automatic aspect ratio.
Processing may reconstruct plausible visual detail, so the result is not a forensic record, identity guarantee, or substitute for professional conservation. By using the tool, you confirm that your upload complies with the Terms of Service.
Research context: restoration literature distinguishes structured damage such as scratches from unstructured degradation such as blur and fading. See the peer-reviewed method paper Bringing Old Photos Back to Life. Reviewed by the Banana Pro AI product team · Last reviewed: 2026-09-15.
Purpose-bound upload verification
Fail-closed source safety review
Fixed server-owned repair brief
Idempotent task recovery
Before-and-after split comparison
Download after visual inspection
Continue editing
Related Photo Tools
Keep each operation explicit. Repair damage first, then choose enhancement, colorization, editing, or enlargement only when the source and intended use call for it.
Photo EnhancerImprove clarity without damage repairUnblur ImageReduce mild focus and short motion blurImage ColorizerAdd interpreted color intentionallyAI Image EditorDescribe a broader visual editImage UpscalerCreate a larger 2× or 4× outputAI Family Photo GeneratorCreate a new family portrait from individual photos
Questions
Photo Restoration FAQ
Clear answers about repair scope, source requirements, historical accuracy, and credit use.
What does AI photo restoration repair?
It can reduce visible scratches, dust, small creases, fading, noise, compression artifacts, and moderate softness in an old photograph. Results depend on the source: a clear scan with localized wear is more reliable than a tiny file with large missing areas.
Does photo restoration colorize black-and-white photos?
No. This restoration path is instructed to retain the source color state so repair and color interpretation remain separate decisions. Use the Image Colorizer only when you intentionally want inferred color and understand that the palette may not be historically exact.
Can it restore faces exactly?
No automated method can guarantee exact recovery when facial pixels are blurred, compressed, scratched away, or missing. Check eyes, teeth, hairlines, jewelry, badges, and relationships between people against the untouched original.
How much does one restoration cost?
Conservative restoration uses 10 credits. GPT Image 2.5 restoration uses 15 credits. The workbench shows the selected cost and your remaining balance before submission, and the existing task system avoids restarting a paid job when a connection is interrupted.
Should I restore old photos in a chatbot instead?
A general chatbot redraw often replaces faces, clothing, or the era because it is generating a new picture. This photo restoration tool keeps a fixed conservation brief, a tracked task, and a split comparison against the source. Use a chatbot for brainstorming. Use this page when you need to restore old photos online and inspect identity.
Which photos work best?
Portraits, family prints, school photographs, wedding pictures, and documentary snapshots with visible but localized damage are practical candidates. Large tears, illegible writing, severe motion blur, and extremely tiny faces usually need a restoration studio or a better scan.
Preserve the source. Inspect the derivative.
Restore a Copy of Your Old Photo
Start with one careful scan, choose conservative restoration or GPT Image 2.5, and compare the restored result against the original before you keep it.
Open the restoration workbench