A dedicated AI upscaler such as Topaz Photo AI can add convincing extra pixels to a small old photo so it prints larger without looking blocky – a plain resize just stretches the pixels you already have, which looks soft.
What you need
- The digital scan or photo file
- Topaz Photo AI (paid, with a free trial) or a similar dedicated upscaling tool
- About ten minutes
What upscaling actually does
Any upscaler is inventing pixels that weren’t in the original photo. That’s a reasonable way to reach a usable print size, but the extra detail is a plausible guess, not recovered fact. Don’t upscale a photo you’re relying on as exact historical evidence, and always keep your original file.
How to upscale the photo
- Open the photo in Topaz Photo AI.
- Choose the Enhance or upscale option.
- Select the upscale factor (for example 2x or 4x) needed to reach your print size.
- Preview the result and compare it with the original.
- Export a copy, keeping your original file untouched.
Check the result at full zoom
Open the exported file at 100% zoom. It should look reasonably sharp rather than blurry or oddly smoothed, without obvious artefacts around edges or faces.
If you’d rather not pay for a tool
If you don’t want to pay for a dedicated tool, check with your print shop first – small files often print larger than you’d expect and still look fine at normal viewing distance, so you may not need to upscale at all.
Next step
If you’re weighing up whether it’s worth paying for software like this at all, see Would paid photo software help with your next job?
Sources and date checked
Topaz Labs product documentation, checked 22 September 2026.