How to upscale and enhance an image using Freepik Image Upscaler

Ever wondered how to make your images look sharper, more detailed, or even achieve 4K resolution? If you’re working on a creative project or just want to give an old photo a facelift, you’re in the right place. In this guide, we’ll dive into how to upscale an image and boost its quality using Freepik’s Image Upscaler and AI tools.

For years, graphic designers and illustrators have relied on traditional methods to upscale images—using editing software to manually adjust resolution, refine details by hand, and blend with other assets. These techniques, although effective, are time-consuming. Thankfully, technology has evolved, and today, with the help of artificial intelligence, image upscaling and image enhancement have become far more efficient. What used to take hours or even days can now be accomplished in a matter of seconds.

Image enhancement vs. image upscaling 

Now, let’s clear up something: image enhancement and image upscaling aren’t quite the same thing. Image upscaling increases the size and resolution of your image without losing detail, while image enhancement improves image quality—things like color correction, sharpening, and noise reduction. 

Freepik Image Upscaler does both by not only enlarging your images but also enhancing them for better clarity and sharpness.

Upscaling an image with the Image Upscaler is quick and easy, but the results can be stunningly powerful. No matter if you need to enhance a detailed illustration, improve the resolution of a photograph, or create cinematic visuals. Let’s walk through the process, including some exciting features like the different upscale modes.

Step-by-step: How to upscale an image to 4K resolution using Freepik Image Upscaler

Upload your image: Start by selecting the image you want to upscale or create a custom image using Freepik’s AI image generator. Freepik Image Upscaler works on a variety of images—photos, digital art, and AI-generated images. Let’s try with this prompt.

Choose the upscale mode: Freepik Image Upscaler offers three Imagination modes: Subtle, Vivid, and Wild, plus options for custom or no modes. Each mode adds a different flair to your image:

• Subtle: This mode is perfect if you want to maintain the natural look of your image while enhancing the resolution. The changes are minimal but impactful, giving your image a refined and polished appearance.
• Vivid: If you’re looking for something with more punch, the Vivid mode adds vibrant colors and enhances the contrast to make your image stand out without overdoing it. Ideal for designs that need to pop.
• Wild: Ready to go bold? Wild mode takes your image to the next level, enhancing every detail with an artistic touch. It’s great for more adventurous projects where you want to make a statement and let the AI be more autonomous.

Select your image resolution (up to 4K resolution): Choose the level of upscaling you need, whether it’s 2x or 4x. Upscaling an image to 4K resolution ensures that every pixel is sharp, no matter how large the image is displayed.

Preview the results: Before downloading, you can preview how your image looks in 4K resolution and with the selected upscale mode. You’ll notice how the details—be it the texture of the clouds or the vibrant greens in the forest—are enhanced, depending on the mode you choose.

Download your image: Once you’re happy with the results, download your AI image in 4K resolution. Whether you used the Subtle, Vivid, or Wild mode, your image is now ready to shine in high definition, perfect for large formats or high-end digital projects.

What is 4K resolution?

 4K resolution refers to an ultra-high-definition standard, meaning an image has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. With 4K resolution, your image contains four times the pixels of 1080p (Full HD), resulting in sharper, crisper visuals. When you upscale an image using Freepik Image Upscaler to 4K, you’re ensuring it looks stunning even on the biggest screens or prints.

When you upscale an image to 4K resolution, you’re increasing its size to improve its resolution. The goal is to make sure the image looks smooth and doesn’t lose any important details. For example, if you use Freepik Image Upscaler to push an image to 4K, you’ll notice the small things—like tiny textures or fine lines—look much sharper, making the whole image feel more lifelike.

How to upscale an image without losing quality

When it comes to improving the resolution of an image, one of the biggest concerns is losing quality. No one wants to end up with a blurry or pixelated result, especially when working on important projects. Traditionally, upscaling images without sacrificing image quality has been a challenge, but with the right tools, it’s more than possible.

Freepik Image Upscaler shines when you want to avoid all that hassle. Instead of simply enlarging an image, Freepik’s AI tool uses advanced AI algorithms to analyze and improve the quality of the image as it upscales, filling in the missing details to create a sharp, high-quality result. If you’re working on illustrations, photography, or complex designs, you can improve the resolution of an image without sacrificing its quality—even up to 4K.

In addition to Freepik Image Upscaler, there’s another tool in Freepik’s arsenal: Freepik Expand. This tool is designed specifically for users who need to not only increase the resolution but also resize their images without losing quality.

With Freepik Expand, you can extend or reduce the canvas size of your image easily. This is perfect for situations where you need more space in your design—whether it’s adding background elements or creating a panoramic view. The tool intelligently generates additional content to fill in the new areas, making sure that the expanded sections blend naturally with the original image. This way, your improved image maintains its sharpness and clarity, and the newly generated areas look like they were part of the original all along. 

How to enhance images using Freepik Image Upscaler

What makes Freepik Image Upscaler truly special is that it doesn’t just help you increase image resolution—it also enhances the quality of your images at the same time. It does all you might need in one go: lighting, sharpening details, or reducing noise.

Here’s the cool part: when you use Freepik Image Upscaler, you’re doing more than enlarging your image—you’re giving it a full makeover. The tool is designed to automatically enhance your image while upscaling, so you don’t need to worry about working with multiple tools or manually tweaking details. It’s like getting a resolution boost and an instant touch-up at the same time.

Color correction, sharpness, and noise reduction—without lifting a finger

What makes Freepik Image Upscaler stand out is its ability to automatically enhance your image’s quality by:

• Correcting colors: This tool detects and adjusts the color balance to give your images more vibrant and natural tones.
• Improving sharpness: It identifies areas of your image that might look blurry or soft and sharpens them for clearer, crisper results.
• Reducing noise: Grainy or pixelated areas are smoothed out to improve the overall quality, ensuring your image looks professional and polished.

With these enhancements working behind the scenes, you get an image that not only looks high-resolution but also feels like it’s had a complete quality upgrade. And the best part? You don’t need to lift a finger.