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Introduction

If you are looking for a high-quality upscaler to enlarge your Midjourney images AND increase quality at the same time, you've come to the right place. I've made nearly 25,000 images on Midjourney to date (Feb. 2023). I spent months trialing different free upscalers. A couple of them did ok, but ultimately they still didn't give me the quality boost I was looking for.

In this post, I provide brief background on Midjourney’s built-in upscalers, why I use Topaz Labs products in my post-processing workflow, and a step-by-step guide showing how to use their Gigapixel AI tool to increase image resolution and quality.

Midjourney's Upscalers and Image Sizes

Midjourney has built-in upscaler options that can increase the resolution of your generated images.

After submitting your prompt, Midjourney will return a grid of low-resolution images. From here, you can click the "U" button that corresponds to the grid image you want to upscale.

The final upscaled image size/dimensions depends on which upscaler is used. Midjourney has six upscalers: Detailed, Beta, Light, Max, v4 Upscaler, and the Anime/Niji Upscaler.

Below is a brief guide describing the default and available upscalers for each version of Midjourney, along with upscaled image sizes based on a set of aspect ratios.

Built-in Upscalers Available by Midjourney Version

Include --upbeta (for the Beta upscaler) or --uplight (for the Light upscaler) in your input prompt parameters to override the default. Alternatively, click the “Beta-Redo” or “Light-Redo” buttons on an image you’ve already upscaled. The max upscaler is only available in Fast mode.

Default Image Dimensions Based on MidJourney Upscaler and Input Aspect Ratio

Why Use Topaz Gigapixel AI for MidJourney Images?

The Midjourney upscalers are a great starting point, but I always find I need higher resolution images in the end. Therefore, the first step in my Midjourney post-processing workflow is to increase image resolution.

Using AI to upscale images can maximize your image quality, bring out more detail, and be used to create large prints of an image without loss of quality.

After seeing so many recommendations online, I gave Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI a whirl using their free trial. I was blown away with the quality I was getting when upscaling my MidJourney images. I was equally impressed when I tried out their other tools in the full Photo AI suite on my photography images and old family photos.

I made the decision to purchase Photo AI and have not regretted my decision. Photo AI includes includes Gigapixel AI, Sharpen AI, and Denoise AI. You can use these tools individually (access to more options) or all together in the Photo AI tool.

In my opinion, Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI is the best paid AI upscaler on the market. I can enlarge my images up to 600% without any loss in quality. In fact, I have always seen an increase in quality.

Examples of Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI output image dimensions based on input dimensions.

Free trial versions are available for any of these Topaz Labs tools here. You can try out all of the features for free, but you need to pay if you want to save any of your images. I recommend utilizing their free trials to test a representative selection of your images before purchasing.

View system requirements here.

High resolution images with improved quality

In the examples below, not only are my output images 4X their original size, but they are also much higher quality than the original input images. Click and drag the white diamond in the center from side to side to reveal the before and after quality.

Step-by-Step Guide to Upscaling with Topaz Gigapixel AI

You've made it this far, so you must be ready to try it on your own images or perhaps you just want to see what the interface looks like ;-).

1. Download your images from MidJourney

If you have not already saved the MidJourney images you want to upscale to your computer

Log into the Midjourney website and go to your Image Archive https://www.midjourney.com/archive
To download one image:
- On desktop: Hover over the image you want to download, single click the 3 dots, and select "Save image".
- On mobile: Tap the image you want to download and then tap the "save" icon.
To batch download images by date:
- On desktop: Click the "Archive" button on the right side of the page. Click the "+" sign for each date you want to download. Click "Open downloader" at the bottom of the page and then click "Download All".
- On mobile: Tap the 3 dots to the right of your username and then tap "View archive". Tap the "+" sign next to each date you want to download (you may need to enable "View as Desktop" in your mobile browser). Once you have all of the dates selected that you want to download, tap "Open downloader" and then "Download All".

2. Open Topaz Gigapixel AI

Download and install the free trial of Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI. When you open Gigapixel AI for the first time, it will ask you to download the AI models that it needs. This can take some time if you have a slow internet connection, but the process is very straightforward.

Once the install process is complete and you have Gigapixel AI open, you can click "Browse Images" to open an image file. Alternatively, just drag and drop and image onto the window.

3. Change your view type and select resize mode

After you have opened your image, I recommend switching to "Comparison view". Comparison view allows you to compare the different AI models available in Gigapixel AI, to see which one works best on your image. You can view up to 4 AI models at a time. Click a quadrant and select the AI model you want to see. Do this for all 4 quadrants, in order to compare 4 different models.

I have found that "Art & CG" AI model works best for my MidJourney images.

Next, select the resize mode. I usually select 4x for a 400% increase in image resolution. This upscales my 1024 x 1024 pixel images to 4096 x 4096 pixels.

You can increase the image size by more than 6x (600%) using the "...x" button, but anything above 6x will not guarantee image quality preservation.

Informative graphic screenshot of Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI's view options and resize mode options

Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI - Comparison view of multiple AI models - screenshot

4. Pick your model and switch to side-by-side or split view

After you have picked which AI model you want to upscale your image with, switch to side-by-side mode or split view. This allows you to compare your original image vs. a preview of your AI upscaled image.

Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI - Side-by-Side View - screenshot

5. Adjust settings

Gigapixel AI settings include Suppress Noise, Remove Blur, Face Recovery, and Gamma Correction. With my MidJourney images, I keep Suppress Noise and Remove Blur low, Face Recovery off, and Gamma Correction on.

Most of my images do not need or benefit from Face Recovery. For old photographs, however, I have had great luck with the Face Recovery setting. Turning on Gamma Correction, gives my MidJourney images a boost in sharpness and clarity.

6. Save your image

If you paid for Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI, you can save your AI upscaled image.

To save your image, click "Save image" in the lower right.

Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI has multiple output image formats to choose from: JPG, JPEG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, and DNG. I use JPG with Quality set to the maximum of 10.

The default output filename will start with your original input image filename. Appended to that are the AI model used for the image and the upscale value ('4' in the example below). Alternatively, you can customize the output name.

The available color profiles in Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI are sRGB, ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB, Apple RGB, and Wide-gamut RGB. I always use the default sRGB.

Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI - Save Image Menu screenshot

Batch Upscaling Images

One of my favorite features of Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI is the ability to upscale multiple images at once.

Want to learn how? Check out this article I wrote on batch AI upscaling with Gigapixel AI!

To batch upscale multiple images with Gigapixel AI, drag and drop all of the images you want to upscale into the tool. The settings you select will be the same for all images. After selecting your settings, click "Save images" in the lower right. Pick you output settings and click "Start".

Once you click "Start", you can monitor the progress as Gigapixel AI works through your batch of images.

Summary

Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI is a fantastic tool for upscaling MidJourney images. Gigapixel AI is just one of a set of tools in the Topaz Labs Photo AI Suite.
I highly recommend purchasing the full suite, so that you have access to Sharpen AI and Denoise AI. However, if I had to pick just one tool in the Photo AI suite to purchase, it would absolutely be Gigapixel AI.
Batch upscaling!! As if Gigapixel AI wasn't game-changing enough for me, the fact that I can upscale hundreds of images at once is magical.

Using Topaz Gigapixel AI to Upscale MidJourney Images: Step-by-Step Guide