How does the face restoration API enhance old photos?

The face restoration API uses AI to detect faces in degraded or low-quality images and restore facial details such as eyes, skin texture, and hair. It also upscales the result to 2x resolution, producing a high-quality enhanced image delivered via a permanent CDN URL.

Can the API restore multiple faces in a group photo?

Yes. By setting the mode parameter to 'all', the API will detect and enhance every face in the image. The default 'single' mode restores only the center face, which is useful for portrait-focused workflows.

What image formats does the face enhancement API support?

The face restoration API accepts JPEG, PNG, and WebP images up to 10 MB. Input images are optimized to 1024px and then upscaled 2x, producing output up to 2048px. The enhanced result is returned as a high-quality JPEG via a permanent CloudFront CDN URL.

Computer VisionFree tier available

Face Restoration API — Enhance & Upscale Faces with AI

Enhance and restore face quality in images using cutting-edge AI with 2x upscaling. Send an image and get back a permanent CDN URL to the enhanced result. Supports single face or all faces in group photos.

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See It in Action

Real examples generated by the API. See the quality for yourself.

Face RestorationAPI Output

Left: original low-quality photo — Right: AI-restored result with enhanced facial details

Features

AI Restoration with 2x Upscale

State-of-the-art face restoration model that enhances facial details and upscales the result to 2x resolution.

Single or All Faces

Restore only the center face (mode=single, default) or all faces in group photos (mode=all).

Permanent CDN URLs

Result images are served via CloudFront CDN with permanent URLs — no expiration.

Flexible Input

Upload files via multipart or pass URLs via form-encoded data.

Photo Restoration

Perfect for restoring old, damaged, or low-quality photos with degraded facial details.

Cloud-Based

No GPU needed on your end. Fully managed cloud infrastructure handles the processing.

API Reference

1 endpoint, simple integration. Here's everything you need.

Supported Content Types

multipart/form-dataapplication/x-www-form-urlencoded

POSThttps://face-restoration.p.rapidapi.com/enhance-face

Enhance and restore faces in an image. Returns a CDN URL to the result.

imagefilerequired

Image file to enhance (JPEG, PNG, WebP). Max 10 MB. Use with multipart/form-data.

image_urlstringrequired

Public URL of the image. Alternative to file upload.

modestring

single (default) — center face only. all — every detected face.

Response Schema

{
  "image_url": "https://images.ai-engine.net/face-restoration-api/abc123.jpg",
  "width": 2048,
  "height": 2048,
  "size_bytes": 160640,
  "faces_detected": 1
}

Response

200

Returns JSON with a permanent CDN URL to the enhanced image, dimensions, file size, and number of faces detected.

Limits

Supported input formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP
Output format: JPEG (quality 95)
Images auto-optimized to 1024px, then upscaled 2x (up to 2048px output)
Maximum file size: 10 MB

Quick Start

Copy-paste code to get started in seconds. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your RapidAPI key.

curl -X POST "https://face-restoration.p.rapidapi.com/enhance-face" \
  -H "x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "x-rapidapi-host: face-restoration.p.rapidapi.com" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "image_url=https://example.com/old_photo.jpg&mode=single"

Pricing

Start free, scale as you grow. All plans include full API access with no credit card required for the free tier.

Free

Basic

$0Free

100 requests/mo

Full API access
All endpoints
Standard support

Pro

$12.99/mo

10,000 requests/mo

Full API access
All endpoints
Standard support

Recommended

Ultra

$49.99/mo

50,000 requests/mo

Full API access
All endpoints
Standard support

Mega

$159.99/mo

200,000 requests/mo

Full API access
All endpoints
Standard support

View Full Pricing on RapidAPI

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the face restoration API enhance old photos?: The face restoration API uses AI to detect faces in degraded or low-quality images and restore facial details such as eyes, skin texture, and hair. It also upscales the result to 2x resolution, producing a high-quality enhanced image delivered via a permanent CDN URL.
Can the API restore multiple faces in a group photo?: Yes. By setting the mode parameter to 'all', the API will detect and enhance every face in the image. The default 'single' mode restores only the center face, which is useful for portrait-focused workflows.
What image formats does the face enhancement API support?: The face restoration API accepts JPEG, PNG, and WebP images up to 10 MB. Input images are optimized to 1024px and then upscaled 2x, producing output up to 2048px. The enhanced result is returned as a high-quality JPEG via a permanent CloudFront CDN URL.

Tutorials & Guides

Learn how to integrate this API with step-by-step tutorials and real-world use cases.

TutorialMay 20, 2025

How to Restore Old Photos with a Face Restoration API

Learn how to enhance old photos and restore faces using a Face Restoration API. Single-endpoint workflow with cURL, Python, and JavaScript code examples.

Read article

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