Old Photo Restoration Tools

Tools for restoring old photos: remove scratches and dust, repair tears and stains, reduce grain, sharpen faces and mild blur, restore faded colour and enlarge. Processed on a2z.tools servers and deleted automatically.

9 tools in this category

Old photo studio

Clean up, repair and enlarge old photos, one step at a time

Eight tools for scanned prints and phone photos of old pictures. Use one on its own, or follow the workflow below and pass your photo from one step to the next in this browser tab.

What these tools do

  • Reduce grain, fill thin scratches and marked damage, and correct fading with classic image processing
  • Gently sharpen detected faces and mild blur
  • Enlarge a photo 2x with a small learned model that sharpens the result

What they do not do

  • Present estimates as fact: filled areas, and any AI-reconstructed detail, are labelled on the result
  • Add colour to black and white photos - that is the separate Photo Colorizer
  • Send your photo to a third-party AI provider

Which tool do I need?

Choose what is wrong with your photo.

The restoration workflow

Skip any step your photo does not need. Doing them in this order avoids sharpening or enlarging defects you are about to remove.

  1. Upload

    Scan the print at 300 DPI or photograph it flat in daylight, without glare.

  2. Remove scratches and damage

    Clean thin lines and dust, then paint over tears and stains.

    Remove Scratches Repair Damaged Photo

  3. Denoise

    Reduce grain and speckle before sharpening anything.

    Denoise Photo Unblur Photo

  4. Restore faces

    Gently sharpen detected faces.

    Enhance Faces

  5. Restore colours or colorize

    Bring back faded colour, or colorize a black and white photo with the separate colorizer.

    Restore Faded Photo Photo Colorizer (separate tool)

  6. Upscale

    Enlarge last, so the clean-up is not enlarged along with the defects.

    Image Upscaler

  7. Download

    Save as PNG, JPG or WebP. Results are deleted from our servers automatically.

Short on time? Restore Old Photo runs denoise, scratch removal and fade correction together.

All photo restoration tools

What happens to your photo

Processed on our servers

Your photo is processed on a2z.tools servers. No third-party AI provider receives it, it is not used for training, and the upload and result are deleted automatically 60 minutes after processing finishes.

No public links

Results are only returned to the browser session that uploaded them, through a short-lived download link.

Handing a photo to the next step

“Continue with” keeps the result in this browser tab only. Closing the tab discards it.

What the Old Photo Studio does

Restoring an old photo is usually several small jobs rather than one. These tools each do one of those jobs, in an order that avoids making defects worse, and let you carry the same photo from one step to the next.

The order that works

Start with damage: remove thin scratches and dust, and paint over tears and stains to repair them. Then reduce grain, because noise makes every later step harder. Sharpen mild blur and enhance faces next, then restore faded contrast and colour. Enlarge last, so the upscaler sharpens a clean photo rather than its defects. Restore Old Photo combines denoising, scratch removal and fade correction when you want one pass.

What the tools are, honestly

Scratch removal, repair, denoising, unblurring, face enhancement and fade restoration are classic image-processing methods such as inpainting, non-local means filtering, deconvolution and contrast equalisation. They are predictable and keep a person's real features, but they cannot invent missing detail. The upscaler is a small learned model that gives modestly sharper enlargements. The separate Photo Colorizer predicts colours for black and white photos; those colours are guesses.

Passing a photo along

After a result, Continue with keeps the processed photo in your browser tab and opens the next tool with it already loaded. Nothing extra is stored on our servers for this, and closing the tab discards it.

When to use it

  • Preparing old family photos for printing, framing or a slideshow.
  • Cleaning up scans before sharing them with relatives.
  • Working out which single tool a damaged photo needs.

How to use it

  1. Scan the print or photograph it flat in daylight.
  2. Use Which tool do I need to pick a starting point, or follow the workflow in order.
  3. Remove scratches and repair damage, then reduce noise.
  4. Enhance faces and restore faded colour, or colorize with the separate Photo Colorizer.
  5. Upscale last, then download the finished photo.

Limitations

  • The tools improve what is in the photo; they cannot recreate detail or missing content.
  • Filled scratches and repaired areas are estimates from surrounding pixels.
  • Colorizing is a separate tool, and results do not pass into it automatically.
  • Daily usage limits and file size limits apply.

Privacy

Photos are processed on a2z.tools servers. They are not sent to any third-party AI provider and are not used for training. Uploads and results are deleted automatically about 60 minutes after processing finishes, and straight away if processing fails or is cancelled.

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Key facts

  • Eight tools: Restore Old Photo, Remove Scratches, Repair Damaged Photo, Denoise Photo, Unblur Photo, Enhance Faces, Restore Faded Photo and the AI Image Upscaler.
  • A recommended order: scratches and damage, then noise, faces and colour, and upscaling last.
  • Restoration steps use classic image processing; only the upscaler uses a small learned model.
  • Continue with passes the result to the next tool in the same browser tab, without storing it on the server.
  • The Photo Colorizer is a separate tool for adding predicted colour to black and white photos.

How to choose

  1. Scan the print or photograph it flat in daylight.
  2. Use Which tool do I need to pick a starting point, or follow the workflow in order.
  3. Remove scratches and repair damage, then reduce noise.
  4. Enhance faces and restore faded colour, or colorize with the separate Photo Colorizer.
  5. Upscale last, then download the finished photo.

Frequently asked questions

In what order should I use the photo restoration tools?

Remove scratches and repair damage first, then reduce noise, then unblur or enhance faces, then restore faded colour, and upscale last. Skip any step your photo does not need.

Are these restoration tools generative AI?

Mostly no. Scratch removal, repair, denoising, unblurring, face enhancement and faded colour restoration use classic image processing. The upscaler uses a small learned model that sharpens enlargements without inventing detail. If an AI restoration or face stage is used for a photo, the result says so and labels that detail as an estimate.

Can I pass a photo from one tool to the next without downloading it?

Yes. After a result, choose Continue with and the next tool opens with your photo loaded. The photo is held in your browser tab for up to 30 minutes and is not stored on our servers for this.

Where is the tool for colorizing black and white photos?

The Photo Colorizer is a separate tool. Restore the photo here first, download it, then upload it to the colorizer. Its colours are predictions, not the original colours.

What happens to the photos I upload for restoration?

They are processed on a2z.tools servers, not sent to a third-party AI provider, not used for training, and deleted automatically about 60 minutes after processing finishes. Failed or cancelled jobs are deleted straight away.

Which photo formats and sizes can I restore?

JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF and HEIC photos are accepted. Each tool shows the current file size and megapixel limits before you upload, and daily usage limits apply.

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