Make Blurry Screenshots Sharp

Two kinds of screenshot

The first is a capture of a photo that was displayed too small: a listing, a chat image, a scan someone photographed off a monitor. The stair-steps are the display. 2× can rebuild a plausible object. Check any text in the photo, because text is where invention shows.

The second is the interface itself. Menus, code, a banking screen, a meme with a caption. Those edges are supposed to be hard. A photographic model softens them into organic shapes. Re-export from the source, or redraw the type. This tool will not become a vector tracer.

PNG is the right container for a screenshot because it does not add JPEG blocks on top of the pixel grid. If the screenshot was re-saved as a low-quality JPEG, you have both problems. The PNG page covers the container. This page covers the content.

A small, free test

Paste the screenshot straight into the tool. Guest mode allows three repairs a day without an account. Run 2×. Zoom the slider on the one edge you care about, not on a flattering region. If a logo’s letter changed, the repair failed even if the photo area looks richer.

There is no watermark on that preview. Ads stay off the tool card. Free pages show ads. The free download is capped at 3,200 px, which for a screenshot is often the point: a capture you can drop into a document without shipping a huge invented file. Paid plans keep the full upscale and can batch a set of captures.

Do not upload a screenshot that contains someone else’s private data you do not have a reason to process. We delete it after 24 hours, and you should not have sent it.

Screenshots contain type, and type is a bad thing to invent

A screenshot is a grid of device pixels. Enlarging it with a photo model asks the model to treat letters as foliage or skin. Sometimes the strokes get cleaner. Often a glyph changes weight or a digit becomes a neighbor. If the words matter, retype them or export the original screen at the size you need. Use the tool on the photograph inside the screenshot, cropped away from the UI, or on a product shot where a soft edge is the defect and the words are elsewhere.

PNG is the right container for a UI capture because it does not add JPEG blocks on top of the pixel grid. If the screenshot was already saved as a low-quality JPEG, you have two problems, and the pixelation page is the companion to this one. WebP and AVIF also decode here. A phone screenshot in HEIC needs to be exported first. We do not decode HEIC, and we do not decode TIFF.

The free download cap is often the right size for a screenshot you are dropping into a document. 3,200 px on the long edge, no watermark. Free pages show ads. Paid plans keep a larger upscale and can batch a set of captures, twelve or forty. Do not upload a capture of someone else’s private data without a reason to process it. We delete it after 24 hours, and that deletion is not a substitute for not sending it. A failed job is not charged.

A last look at the glyphs

Read every digit in the repaired crop. A 3 that became an 8 is a successful-looking failure, and it will be believed because it is type. If the words matter, retype them. If the photograph inside the screenshot is the subject, crop the chrome away and upscale that rectangle. PNG keeps the hard edges better than a second JPEG. The free download cap is often the right size for a document and the wrong size for a poster of the same capture.

What to keep beside the slider

Device pixels are a grid that a photo model wants to turn into foliage or skin. Sometimes a stroke gets cleaner. Often a digit changes. If the screenshot is evidence, re-export the screen or retype the words. If a product photo is trapped inside the capture, crop to it and upscale that. PNG avoids a second generation of JPEG blocks. The free cap of 3,200 px is frequently the right delivery for a document. Paid plans keep a larger file and can batch captures, twelve or forty, after one of them has been read digit by digit. Do not upload someone else’s private screen on the theory that we delete it tomorrow. Deletion is not permission.

The decision you can defend

Read the digits after the repair. A changed number is a failure that looks like success. Crop to the photograph when the words are not the subject, and retype the words when they are. The free cap is often the right size for a document. It is the wrong size for a poster of the same capture.