Can scratched photos be fixed?
How to fix scratches on old photos
Scratches are the most common damage old photos carry, and among the most fixable. Here is what causes them, and two genuine repairs.
What this damage is
Most scratches come from storage, not accidents: photos stacked face to back, slid in and out of boxes, or wiped with a dry cloth that dragged grit across the surface. Each pass leaves fine lines that catch the light. Deeper gouges usually mean something sharp, a paperclip, a frame edge, a fingernail.
On very old pictures the scratched layer is the image itself, so every line is missing picture, not dirt sitting on top. That is why no amount of cleaning helps, and why the repair has to be a reconstruction.
Can it be fixed?
AI restoration treats each scratch as a gap and rebuilds what should be underneath from the surrounding image. Fine scratch webs disappear almost perfectly. A scratch across a face is harder, and the second example below shows an honest result: the line is gone and the face reads naturally. The narrower the scratch, the more faithful the reconstruction.
Before any repair, get a proper scan: the DPI advisor gives the right setting in two questions, and the scanning guide covers the craft.
Common questions
- Can deep scratches be removed from old photos?
- Usually, yes. AI restoration rebuilds the missing area from the surrounding image. Results are near perfect for fine scratches; a deep gouge through a face is reconstructed plausibly rather than recovered exactly, because the original information is gone.
- Should I try to polish scratches off a photo?
- No. Polishing or rubbing removes more of the image layer and turns fine scratches into large worn patches. Scan the photo as it is and do the repair digitally, so the original is never touched.
- What DPI should I scan a scratched photo at?
- 600 DPI or higher. The repair model works best when it can see the scratch edges clearly; a low-resolution scan blurs the boundary between scratch and picture.
The damage is the before. You hold the after.
Real repairs on real photographs, made by the model inside Photo Restore. Your family's copies deserve the same rescue.
