Free for Windows 10 and 11
Four times the detail.
A fraction of the size.
PixelForge enlarges whole folders of images with AI, then compresses them without visible loss — all on your own PC. No cloud, no account, no subscription.
Upscayl Standard model · 8.8 s on a laptop RTX 3050 Drag the divider · a region shown enlarged
01 / Real results
Not a mock-up.
Straight from the app.
Every comparison here is PixelForge’s own output. On the left, the original enlarged the ordinary way; on the right, the same pixels after PixelForge. Drag to compare.
Young red fox
Fur, whiskers and the fine hairs of the ear, redrawn at four times the resolution.
- Model
- Upscayl Standard
- Original
- 960×640
- Result
- 3840×2560
- Time
- 11.4 s
Image: USFWSAlaska, Public domain
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The Great Wave, Hokusai
The Digital Art model turns soft, blocky edges into clean, confident lines.
- Model
- Digital Art
- Original
- 960×662
- Result
- 3840×2648
- Time
- 4.8 s
Image: After Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain
Mountain lake
Individual trees and snowfields come back where an ordinary enlargement smears them together.
- Model
- UltraMix Balanced
- Original
- 960×640
- Result
- 3840×2560
- Time
- 11.9 s
Image: Bonnie Moreland, CC0
Stingless bee
Every hair and the fine grain of the antennae, where an ordinary enlargement leaves a soft haze.
- Model
- Upscayl Standard
- Original
- 954×922
- Result
- 3816×3688
- Time
- 13.8 s
Image: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA, Public domain
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02 / How it works
Drop a folder.
Walk away.
Two proven engines, one click. PixelForge runs the whole batch through AI upscaling and then compression, and tells you exactly where it is.
-
01
Add your images
Drop a folder, a few folders, or single images. Subfolders too, if you want them — their structure is kept.
-
02
Upscale on your GPU
upscayl-ncnn enlarges each image 2×, 3× or 4× with the model you choose. Pause, resume or cancel whenever you like.
-
03
Compress without visible loss
Caesium then shrinks the results — keep the format, convert to JPEG or WebP, or go fully lossless.
-
04
Compare and keep
Check every result side by side, zoomed to the pixel. Your originals are never touched.
A real run
5 images
in 0:47
Upscaled 4× on a laptop RTX 3050, then compressed — 71% smaller overall.
One owl, 2700×1800
Under the hood
Two proven open-source engines.
One careful pipeline.
PixelForge doesn’t reinvent the hard parts. It runs engines that thousands of people already rely on, and builds the whole workflow around them.
The engine behind the Upscayl app, running on your graphics card through Vulkan — with the seven models from the Upscayl project’s collection.
Compression Caesiumcaesium-clt, a well-regarded compressor that shrinks JPEG, PNG and WebP files while keeping them looking the same.
- Both engines in one run, over whole folders
- The dedicated GPU chosen for you
- Progress, time left, pause and cancel
- A before and after for every result
- Outputs that never overwrite your files
- A disk-space check before big runs
- Engines and updates verified before use
PixelForge is an independent app by Refora Technologies. It isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the Upscayl or Caesium projects — we’re just grateful users of their work.
03 / The app
Built for batches,
not babysitting.
Hundreds of images or a handful, PixelForge is made to be started and left alone — and to be careful with your files while it works.
Live progress
Per-image counts and time remaining, on the dashboard and the taskbar. Your PC stays awake until the run is done.
A real before and after
Zoom, pan and see actual pixels, then step through every result with the arrow keys.
Nothing overwritten
Keep every run in its own folder, or replace the last one — which only ever removes files PixelForge made.
Checks the space first
A 4× upscale can be big. PixelForge estimates the output and asks before a run that may not fit.
Recent runs
Your last runs, what they did, and their output folders — one click away.
One-click updates
New versions are verified against their published checksum, installed in the background, and PixelForge reopens.
Keeps going
A damaged file is skipped and listed, and the rest of the batch finishes.
Yours to tune
Light and dark themes, your own accent colour, output naming templates and keyboard shortcuts.
04 / Seven models
Same pixels.
Pick the look.
All seven models are in the installer, so they work offline. Here is the same 135 × 90 pixel detail through each one — the original first.
05 / Private by design
Your images never leave
your PC.
Processed locally
Upscaling runs on your graphics card and compression on your processor. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
No account, no tracking
No sign-in, no analytics and no telemetry in the app. It never reports what you do or what you process.
Verified downloads
The engines and every update are checked against a SHA-256 fingerprint before anything runs.
Works offline
After first launch, PixelForge needs no connection. It checks GitHub for updates, and you can turn that off.
PixelForge is open source under the GPL-3.0, so anyone can check its code. It’s built on open-source engines: upscayl-ncnn for upscaling and Caesium for compression. Read the privacy policy
Is PixelForge really free?
Yes. No trial, no watermark, no account, no subscription. It’s open source under the GPL-3.0, so its code is public, and you can use it for personal or commercial work.
What do I need to run it?
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, and a graphics card with Vulkan support — most NVIDIA, AMD and Intel GPUs from recent years. The results on this page were made on a laptop RTX 3050. The installer is about 261 MB; on first launch PixelForge downloads its two engine tools (about 25 MB) and verifies them.
Windows says “Windows protected your PC”. Is it safe?
That warning appears for downloads that aren’t code-signed yet, and PixelForge isn’t — certificates are costly for a free app. Choose More info, then Run anyway. To be certain the file is ours, compare its SHA-256 fingerprint with the one published beside the installer on GitHub.
Does it upload my images anywhere?
Never. Every image is processed on your own PC. PixelForge goes online only to download its engine tools on first launch, and to check GitHub for new versions — which you can turn off in Settings.
Which formats does it handle?
It reads JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and TIFF. It writes upscaled images as PNG, JPG or WebP, and compression can keep the format or convert to JPEG, PNG or WebP.
Will it change my original files?
No. Results always go to separate output folders, and PixelForge refuses to run in a way that could overwrite the images it is reading.
Which model should I use?
Upscayl Standard suits most photos, Digital Art suits illustrations and anime, and Upscayl Lite is quickest for big batches. The comparison above shows all seven on the same image.
Is PixelForge the same as Upscayl?
No, but it’s built on it. PixelForge upscales with upscayl-ncnn — the open-source engine behind the Upscayl app — and its models, then compresses the results with Caesium. What PixelForge adds is the workflow: whole folders through both steps in one run, progress you can pause, a before and after for every result, and care with your files. If you only need to enlarge the odd image, the Upscayl app itself is excellent too.
Is there a Mac or Linux version?
Not yet. PixelForge is Windows-only for now.