For Linux users, there’s now a stupid simple app to enlarge and enhance photo image via AI Upscaling technology.
It’s Upscayl, a free and open-source tool built with the Linux-first philosophy, though works also in Windows and macOS.
The app is quite useful in case you have an indistinct photo image and want to make it more clear. Or, the original image has low resolution but you want to make it look better and sharper in HiPDI monitors (e.g., 4k and 8k).
The application is quite easy to use, just follow the left side steps to select an image, choose general image or digital image, set where to save the output file (optional), and finally click upscale (Upscayl)!
It uses your computer graphics card (GPU) for rendering images. The process can take a few minutes depends on your machine as well as the original image.
By default, it outputs 4x higher image resolution which also causes larger file size. The changes of image quality depends on original image. In my tests, it can be greatly improved, or even look same as before. At least, it enlarges images without losing quality.
As a new project, it’s not fully implemented. It will add new features including upscale and increase video resolution, 2x, 3x upscaling modes. And, someone reported that the core engine of the app is not open-source, so to make it fully free and open-source is also one of the goals according to the project road-map.
How to Get Upscayl:
The software provides AppImage and Flatpak packages for Linux users, available to download at the link below:
Most Linux user can download the non-install .AppImage package. Right-click on package and go to its “Properties” dialog. Then, make it executable under Permissions tab. Finally, click run the package to launch the tool.
Or, grab the Flatpak package, and run command flatpak install /path/to/file.flatpak to install it. See this step by step guide for how to install a local flatpak.
For Windows and macOS, there’s so far no binary package, but advanced users can build from source by yourself.
