In this tutorial, we will show you how to upscale an image using Copilot PC. Whether you want to take a large print of a picture, improve old photos, or crop a photo to focus on the content, you can do it quickly without using any third-party tools or paid products. This can be done with a new Super Resolution feature in the Microsoft Photos app of Windows 11 PC. The feature is exclusive to Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs and helps to enhance or improve low-quality photos. It utilizes AI technology to enlarge or upscale images up to eight times (8x) the original size.
The Super Resolution feature in the Photos app also lets you preview the input image and the enhanced image using a slider. You can first compare the two images within the app and then save the output image. It leverages the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) on a Copilot+ PC to upscale an image, and all processing is done locally. Currently, it supports only photos (say a JPG file) and not GIFs or videos. Also, the feature is available as a preview in the insider builds. So, if you have this feature, you can start using it right away.
There are mainly two ways the Super Resolution feature helps to enlarge and enhance images on Copilot+ PC. These are:
- Upscale the image resolution by increasing the number of pixels to make an image suitable for large displays, and
- Enhance image sharpness. It is done by AI technology, which analyses the input and fills in missing details. The AI model is non-generative, which means it doesn’t produce new content; it only fills in missing details.
Now let’s see how it works.
How to upscale Image using Copilot PC?
Follow these steps to enlarge or upscale an image on a Copilot+ PC:
- Open the Photos app on your Copilot+ PC
- Select an image or import it
- Click on the Edit option available in the top-left part
- In the Photos Editor, click on the Super Resolution option (next to Background)
- In the right section, you will see a slider to use the Super Resolution feature. You can move the slider to set the enhancement level (1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, or 8x)
- As you select an upscale level, you can also see the original resolution (input image) and upscale resolution (output)
- When the processing is done (which takes only a few seconds), you can do a visual comparison (before and after preview) using a slider in real-time on the app interface. The original image is displayed on the left part, and the enhanced image on the right part
- Press the Apply button
- Click on the Save options drop-down button
- Select the Save as copy option to generate a separate and enhanced image.
That’s all.
Read: How to use Generative Erase in the Photos app on Windows PC
Can Microsoft Copilot upscale images?
You can use Microsoft Copilot to generate AI-based images. But it can’t help you enlarge or upscale an image directly. However, you can prompt it to generate an image with higher resolution. Based on your prompt (a scene or concept), it can try to generate a high-resolution photo, but it can’t produce the photo with the exact resolution that you asked for. If you want, you can use some best free tools like Upscayl, SuperImage, and Ilaria Upscaler to upscale images without restrictions on a Windows PC.
Can Copilot enhance photos?
You can upload a photo and ask Copilot to enhance it, but you may not get the expected output. It can change the appearance of the photo to improve sharpness, quality, but it will also change the resolution. The best thing you can do is first generate an image or a photo using Copilot, and then you can modify and refine AI image prompts. You can prompt to improve image quality, remove an object, etc., to enhance the result, and get the output.
Read next: Best Free Video Quality Enhancer for Windows PC.
