How to fix blurry faces in old videos with AI

Faces are the first thing that looks wrong in old, low-resolution footage. AI face restoration can bring back clean, sharp faces, privately, on your own PC.

Short answer

Can AI sharpen faces in an old video?

Yes. AI face restoration (GFPGAN) can make blurry faces sharp and clean again, for free.

AI Video Upscaler+ finds every face in every frame (SCRFD face detection), restores it with GFPGAN, a face-restoration AI model, and blends it back into the picture. You control how strong the effect is, and you can upscale the whole video to 4K at the same time.

  • Every frameFaces are restored throughout the video, not just in one still.
  • AdjustableA strength slider from subtle to strong (default 80%).
  • Together with 4KCombine with upscaling and 60 fps in one pass.
  • PrivateRuns offline on your PC. Nothing is uploaded.

Step by step

How to restore faces in a video

  1. Add the videoIn AI Video Upscaler+, click + Add Video and choose the clip.
  2. Choose the output sizePick the output resolution, for example 1080p or 4K. Upscaling and face restoration work best together on low-resolution footage.
  3. Set face restoration strengthUse the Face restoration strength slider. Keep it high for very blurry faces and lower for a more natural look.
  4. Test a few seconds firstUse Trim / Rotate on a part where faces are clearly visible, compare the result, then process the whole video.
  5. Add to QueueProcessing runs in the background. Face restoration runs on every frame, so it adds some time.

Before you start

What face restoration can and can't do

Works best on

  • Faces that are reasonably large and visible
  • Soft, low-resolution faces from old phones and camcorders
  • Family videos, interviews, talks and vlogs

Gains less on

  • Tiny faces far away or in a crowd
  • Faces with strong motion blur or in deep shadow
  • Faces turned far away from the camera

Good to know: GFPGAN reconstructs plausible facial detail, so very fine features can look slightly different from the original. Review the result. AI Video Upscaler+ only enhances people who are already in your video; it never adds or swaps faces. Only process videos you have the rights to.

See the difference

Face restoration on vs off

On our before & after samples page, toggle face restoration on and off on the same clip and zoom in on the face, where GFPGAN's effect is most visible. The samples were made on an ordinary laptop with an Intel Core i7-11800H, Intel UHD integrated graphics and 16 GB RAM, with no dedicated graphics card.

Get AI Video Upscaler+ free on Microsoft Store See before & after samples

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