Model · Pictures, Video

Real-ESRGAN

A free, open model that makes small or blurry photos bigger and sharper, with extra versions for anime. It runs on your own computer, including a ready-made app for Windows, Mac and Linux that needs no Python.

Go to Real-ESRGAN’s website

At a glance

Open or closed: Fully open
Weights and code downloadable under a standard open licence
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked on the maker's own page
Licence: BSD-3-Clause (Permissive (e.g. Apache 2.0, MIT))
Licence named in the repo sidebar; licence text not read.
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked, but the page was unclear or partial
Can I sell what I make?: Yes
BSD-3-Clause permits commercial use; repo says nothing extra about outputs.
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked, but the page was unclear or partial
Cost: Free option: Code and weights free to download and run.
Plans below.
How you use it: On your own computer, Through another service, In your browser
Also Colab notebooks, an online ARC demo (anime model only) and a Replicate demo.
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked on the maker's own page
Skill needed: Some setup
Inferred: portable executable is run from a command line.
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · inferred or from a secondary source; needs review
Made by: Tencent ARC Lab
Repository sits on a personal GitHub account; the paper's authors are from Tencent ARC Lab and the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology. Country not stated.
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked, but the page was unclear or partial
Status: Available
No closure notice, but the portable builds date from 2022-04-24 (v0.2.5.0); maintenance activity unclear.
source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked, but the page was unclear or partial

What you can make with it

A picture, make a photo sharper or bigger (main use)

image to imagevideo to video

x4 main model (x2 also), optional face enhancement via GFPGAN, anime image and anime video models.

source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked on the maker's own page

Plans and prices

No paid plans listed.

source · checked 12 Oct 2026 · checked on the maker's own page

Where you can run it

Replicate

Other options for “A picture, make a photo sharper or bigger”

Adobe Firefly, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Bria, Claid, Clipdrop, DiffusionBee, DomoAI, Dreamina, Flair, FlexClip, Fooocus, getimg.ai, Higgsfield, Ideogram, ImagineArt, Kittl, Krea, Lensa, Leonardo.Ai, Let's Enhance, LTX Studio, Luminar Neo, Mage Space

About this entry

Facts last checked 12 Oct 2026 against the maker’s own pages (each fact links to its source). Entry status: draft. Plain-English summary written by Plainly.