How to Unpixelate Image Online or in Photoshop

To depixelate an image online for free, upload it to our website, letsenhance.io, and click ‘Start processing’. It’s that simple! But we also provide in-depth instructions on how to fix pixelated photos with our AI web app and Photoshop below.

Takeaways

• Standard editing apps like Photoshop or Illustrator smooth out pictures but they don't add detail or remove pixelation in a real sense
• The best way to unpixelate an image is to use AI-based depixelizers such as Let's Enhance
• If you need to automatically sharpen pixelated photos in large volumes, try Claid.AI

What causes pixelation and how to avoid it

Images consist of tiny squares called pixels. When pixel density is high enough they fuse into a smooth and clear image.

But when the picture is stretched out above its optimal resolution, it becomes blocky with stair-like lines. That’s pixelation.

It usually occurs when websites blow out pictures uploaded by users to the required width and height.

Note: Some apps smooth out upscaled images, making them blurry instead of jagged. It depends on the upscaling type.

The best way to prevent pixelation is to get an original clear image with more megapixels. But if you don’t have one, you can sharpen your pixelated photo with our online app.

How to fix a pixelated image without Photoshop

The only way to effectively remove pixelation is to use AI-based depixelators.

Traditional image editors, like Photoshop, only smooth out the edges a little bit, making a picture look blurry. In turn, AI, trained on millions of images, can genuinely restore the details, putting the missing pixels in place.

We trained our network, Smart Enhance, specifically to fix compression noise and pixelation. In this sense, Smart Enhance stands out even among AI image editing software.

How to depixelate an image online for free

Step 1: Sign in to Let’s Enhance

Sign in to your Let’s Enhance account or go to letsenhance.io/signup and create a new one. You can continue with Google or sign up with your email.

Now, with a free account, you can unpixelate up to 10 images.

Step 2: Upload your pixelated pictures

Drag & drop photos you want to depixelate anywhere on the page or select them from your computer / phone. Alternatively, import files from Google Drive or URL.

You can see the output resolution and print size at 300 DPI to the right of the image thumbnail.

Tip: You can upload multiple photos and depixelate them all at once.

Step 3: Click ‘Start processing’

Our default mode, Smart Enhance, will fix your pixelated image without any settings. All you have to do is to click the Start processing button.

Additionally, you can fix the lighting and colors of your image by turning on the Light AI toggle.

Tone enhance mode increases contrast and brightness. Color enhance boosts saturation.

Tip: Adjust the intensity of applied filters by dragging the slider.

Step 4: Download your depixelated photos

Wait till the processing ends. Then click on the image thumbnail to save it to your device.

Now, you have a new beautiful depixaleted image that you can share with friends or use for anything you like.

The video tutorial below shows how to clear up a blurry picture with Let's Enhance. You can follow these steps to unpixelate your photo as they are exactly the same.

Note: Output quality depends on the degree of pixelation. It’s always better to have an original high-quality image. But if you don’t have one, our tool is your best bet when you want to unpixelate photos.

How to scale up a low res image and avoid pixelation

Sometimes you got a small picture that looks sharp at 100% scale. If you want to enlarge it you can use Let’s Enhance in the default mode. It will double its size without making it look pixelated.

For a 100 x 100 image, the output would be 200 x 200 pixels.

But you can make your image even bigger.

Select Photo upscale type and choose Custom size. Now, you can make your image up to 16 times larger.

Note: Free users can upscale an image up to 64 MP. This is enough to produce a pretty big 8000 x 8000 picture.

How to fix a pixelated image on iPhone

To depixelate a picture on your phone, upload it to our website, letsenhance.io, and tap the Start processing button in the pop-up.

You don’t have to change any settings. The default mode is perfectly capable of removing pixelation.

You can follow more detailed general instructions from this post. They’re true for both desktop and mobile versions of our website.

Make your pixelated product photos clear

Step up your eCommerce game by improving the quality of your product photos. Depixelate and enlarge your images to provide a more detailed view of the things you sell to your buyers.

Use batch processing to sharpen dozens of pics at once on our website.

Or take advantage of our API to set up an advanced image processing workflow tailored to your website. Set the custom AI upscaling, noise reduction, lighting, and color enhancement to automatically adjust user-generated content to your requirements.

Learn more about how you can use Let’s Enhance for your online marketplace.

Depixelate real estate images

High-quality photos make a big difference in the online real estate business. According to a study, rental listings with clear images generate extra $2,348 in annual revenue, on average.

Let’s Enhance automatically removes pixelization and blur from your images, making your listings more appealing to customers.

For the best results use our real estate preset that includes Light AI, depixelation, upscaling, and noise reduction.

To enable this preset, click Presets > Real Estate.

Depixelate zoomed-in and cropped images

Pixelation often occurs when you make a crop of a small region in your photo. In genres like wildlife photography, it’s often the only way to get a close view of an object.

With Let’s Enhance, you can easily fix cropped pixelated images.

Think about it as a lossless optical zoom that you can apply anytime after taking a photo.

How to depixelate pictures in Photoshop

There’s 4 common ways to fix a minor pixelation in Photoshop:

A. Go to Filter > Noise > Despeckle.

Apply it a few times by pressing CTRL + F (Windows) or CMD + F (Mac)

B. Go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur. Play around with Radius and Threshold sliders till you get the best result.

If you aren't happy with Smart blur results, you can experiment with a Gaussian blur filter. Sometimes it works better.

C. 1. Go to Image > Image Size.

2. Set the resolution to twice the original size.

3. Check the Resample box and apply a Bicubic Smoother enlargement.

Tip: You can combine all 3 methods to make the image smoother.

Keep in mind, Photoshop only slightly smooths your pixelated image. Check how it deals with heavy pixelation compared to Let’s Enhance.

In this case, we used Smart blur and Bicubic Smoother enlargement in Photoshop. Let’s Enhance was in the default mode (Smart Enhance).

FAQ

How do I know if an image is pixelated?

Photos are composed of pixel grids. When the image is upscaled above its original resolution pixels become visible. Picture becomes blocky, curves get triangle edges. You could see shapes like that in the old 8-bit games or modern pixel art.

How to avoid pixelation?

• When taking photos set your camera to maximum megapixels.
• When editing photos or uploading them to social media use source files with the highest resolution.
• If you need to enlarge an image don’t use old upsampling methods like ‘nearest neighbor’. Opt for AI-based upscaling instead.
• Use vector graphics for simple visuals like logos. You can scale vectors up and down without quality loss. But keep in mind, vectors don’t support precise color detailization. That’s why photos are only in raster format. I.e., they become pixelated when stretched out.

Is blurred the same as pixelated?

Not quite. You get blurry photos when your camera is out of focus or when the image is enlarged with certain upscaling algorithms.

Pixelation occurs when low res photos are enlarged with the basic upscaling method, i.e. ‘nearest neighbor’.

How can I make a blurry picture clear?

The process is the same as for depixelation. Upload your pic to Let's Enhance website and click Start processing. Our default AI upscaling network, Smart Enhance, automatically spots what’s wrong with your images — whether it’s blur, pixelation, or grain — and fixes them.

How AI depixelation works?

AI code is trained to reconstruct missing details on thousands of image pairs. In the beginning, it makes a lot of mistakes, just like humans. But just like humans, it improves with each new iteration. So when AI/ML-based app is delivered to users, it already restores missing pixels with high accuracy.

Depixelate 5 images with Let’s Enhance for free

We hope this guide was helpful and now you know how to fix your pixelated photos. So don’t hesitate to sign up and get your 10 free images to depixelate, upscale, or otherwise improve with our powerful AI technology.