Photo Restoration

Fix scratches, tears, and damage on old photos using a multi-step AI pipeline. Combines scratch repair, face enhancement, denoising, and optional colorization.

API Endpoint

POST /api/v1/tools/restore-photo

Processing: Asynchronous (returns 202, poll /api/v1/jobs/{jobId}/progress for status via SSE)

Model bundle: photo-restoration (800 MB - 1 GB)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
file	file	Yes	-	Image file (multipart)
scratchRemoval	boolean	No	true	Remove scratches and surface damage
faceEnhancement	boolean	No	true	Enhance faces in the restored photo
fidelity	number	No	0.7	Face enhancement fidelity (0-1). Higher values preserve original features more
denoise	boolean	No	true	Apply denoising to the restored result
denoiseStrength	number	No	25	Denoising strength (0-100)
colorize	boolean	No	false	Colorize the restored photo (for grayscale images)
colorizeStrength	number	No	85	Colorization intensity (0-100)

Example Request

curl -X POST http://localhost:13490/api/v1/tools/restore-photo \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F 'settings={"scratchRemoval":true,"faceEnhancement":true,"fidelity":0.6,"colorize":true}'

Response

Initial Response (202 Accepted)

{
  "jobId": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  "async": true
}

Progress (SSE at /api/v1/jobs/{jobId}/progress)

event: progress
data: {"phase":"processing","stage":"Removing scratches...","percent":30}

event: progress
data: {"phase":"processing","stage":"Enhancing faces...","percent":60}

Final Result (via SSE)

{
  "phase": "complete",
  "percent": 100,
  "result": {
    "jobId": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
    "downloadUrl": "/api/v1/download/{jobId}/damaged-old-photo_restored.jpg",
    "previewUrl": "/api/v1/download/{jobId}/preview.webp",
    "originalSize": 200000,
    "processedSize": 350000,
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 900,
    "steps": ["scratch_removal", "face_enhancement", "denoise", "colorize"],
    "scratchCoverage": 12.5,
    "facesEnhanced": 2,
    "isGrayscale": true,
    "colorized": true
  }
}

Notes

• Requires the photo-restoration model bundle to be installed (800 MB - 1 GB).
• The pipeline runs multiple AI steps sequentially: scratch repair, face enhancement (GFPGAN), denoising, and optionally colorization.
• The steps array in the result shows which processing steps were actually executed.
• scratchCoverage is an estimated percentage of the image area that had scratch damage.
• fidelity controls how strongly faces are enhanced vs. preserving the original appearance. Lower values produce more aggressive enhancement; higher values are more conservative.
• The colorize option automatically detects if the image is grayscale. The isGrayscale flag in the result confirms this detection.
• Output format matches the input format automatically.
• Supports HEIC/HEIF, RAW, TGA, PSD, EXR, HDR, and AVIF input formats via automatic decoding.