How to Upscale Images in Midjourney 2026: The Complete Practical Guide

Last week, I generated what I thought was the perfect product render in Midjourney. The composition was flawless, the lighting hit just right, and the colors were exactly what my client wanted. Then reality hit when they asked for print files suitable for a 24-inch poster. My original output was 1024 by 1024 pixels, and suddenly I was staring at the harsh truth: I needed to upscale it without destroying quality. That’s when I realized how much the upscaling game has changed in 2026, and honestly, it’s transformed what’s possible with AI-generated images.

Understanding Midjourney’s Built-In Upscale Options in 2026

Midjourney’s native upscaling has become genuinely useful this year. When you generate an image, you’re getting roughly 1024 by 1024 pixels by default, which is fine for web use but nowhere near print-ready quality. The platform now offers you two distinct upscaling paths right in the interface: Subtle and Creative.

The Subtle option preserves your original image as closely as possible while doubling its dimensions. I use this when I’ve nailed the details and I’m worried about the algorithm changing anything. It’s conservative, reliable, and honestly, it’s my go-to about 70 percent of the time. The Creative option, on the other hand, lets the AI interpret and enhance details more aggressively while upscaling. This can actually improve poorly-rendered areas, but it sometimes adds details you didn’t ask for.

Here’s the practical process: open your generated image in Midjourney by clicking on it so it appears in the left window panel. Then you’ll see your action buttons. Click the “Creative” button if you want interpretive enhancement, or select “Subtle” if you want fidelity preservation. That’s genuinely it. Midjourney will then process the image and deliver you something roughly double the resolution.

The catch is that one pass only doubles your size. So if you start at 1024 by 1024, you’re getting 2048 by 2048. If you want to reach 4K quality (around 4000 by 4000 pixels), you’ll need to upscale twice. I’ve done this countless times, and honestly, the quality degradation between first and second upscale passes is minimal with the Subtle option.

When Midjourney’s Native Upscaling Isn’t Enough

I’ve got three poster files sitting on my desktop right now that Midjourney alone couldn’t handle properly. They’re all situations where clients needed massive prints, 20,000 by 20,000 pixels or even larger. Midjourney’s built-in tools max out their effectiveness around 8192 by 8192 pixels in practice, and beyond that, you’re just pixelating the same data.

This is where external upscaling tools become essential. I’m not saying Midjourney’s upscaling is bad. It’s actually solid for standard use cases. But when you’re hitting professional print specifications, you need specialized AI upscaling software that’s been trained specifically to add realistic detail rather than just stretching pixels.

The most reliable tool I’ve found is Topaz Gigapixel AI. It’s not free, but it costs about $99.99 for the software, and it’s worth every penny if you’re doing this regularly. I use it for roughly 40 percent of my upscaling work, particularly when clients are pushing for extreme enlargement ratios.

Topaz can take that 1024 by 1024 image and push it to 20,000 by 20,000 pixels while actually adding credible detail. The algorithm is genuinely impressive. It analyzes patterns in your image and predicts what details should exist at higher resolution based on what it learned from millions of high-resolution photos. The results aren’t perfect, but they’re dramatically better than simple interpolation.

The Two-Step Upscaling Strategy That Actually Works

I’ve developed a workflow that delivers the best results, and it’s become my standard approach for client work. First, I upscale within Midjourney using the Subtle option twice. This gets me from 1024 by 1024 to roughly 4096 by 4096 pixels, which is solid 4K quality.

Then, if the client needs larger than 4K, I export that file and run it through Topaz Gigapixel with their “Standard” preset. This two-step process works because Midjourney is optimized for understanding the semantic content of your image, while Topaz excels at pattern interpolation. They work beautifully together.

The reason this beats just using Topaz alone is that Midjourney understands what your image is actually depicting. When it upscales, it’s reasoning about the content in ways pure mathematical interpolation can’t. So by letting Midjourney do the heavy lifting first, you’re giving Topaz a better foundation to work from.

I tested this against just using Topaz directly on the original 1024 by 1024 image, and the difference is noticeable. The Midjourney-first approach produces sharper edges, better color fidelity, and fewer artifacts. It takes more time and uses more computational resources, but for professional work, it’s worth it.

Accessing Upscaling Features in Your Midjourney Account

This is straightforward if you’re already in Midjourney, but new users sometimes miss where the buttons actually are. Generate an image, wait for it to complete, and you’ll see four upscaling options labeled U1, U2, U3, and U4. These correspond to upscaling each of your four generated variations.

Below those, you’ll see the “Creative” and “Subtle” buttons I mentioned earlier. These apply to whichever image is currently selected. If you don’t see these options, you might be looking at an older version of the interface. Make sure you’re accessing Midjourney through the current web interface or the official Discord bot.

One detail that matters: you need to have remaining fast hours in your subscription for upscaling to work quickly. Upscaling uses fast hours just like generation does. I’ve got a $30 monthly subscription that gives me 200 fast hours, and that covers roughly 150 full upscale operations for me. If you hit your limit, upscaling still works but it’s queued in slow mode, which can take hours.

If you’re doing this professionally, I’d recommend the $96 monthly plan, which gives you 900 fast hours. That’s enough for serious work without constant worrying about your balance.

Comparing Subtle Versus Creative Upscaling in Real Scenarios

I’ve upscaled probably three thousand images at this point, so I’ve got strong opinions about when each option works best. Subtle is my choice 70 percent of the time because it preserves the exact character of what I generated. If you spent thirty prompts getting a specific face exactly right, Subtle keeps that face unchanged while just improving sharpness and clarity.

Creative is when I’ve got minor issues I want fixed. Maybe the hands look a bit blurry, or the background details are vague. Creative upscaling often clarifies these elements. The algorithm isn’t magically fixing mistakes, but it’s interpreting the image content more actively, which sometimes results in clearer details emerging.

The downside is that Creative upscaling sometimes adds things you didn’t ask for. I once upscaled a portrait of a woman in a leather jacket using Creative, and somehow the algorithm decided she should also have a necklace she didn’t have originally. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t what I generated. That’s the tradeoff you’re making.

I’ve also noticed that Creative upscaling handles abstract images and artistic styles better than photorealistic content. If you’re doing concept art or stylized illustration work, Creative often produces stunning results. For product renders or architectural visualization, Subtle is safer.

Combining Midjourney with Third-Party Upscaling Tools

Beyond Topaz, there are other options worth considering depending on your needs and budget. Let me break down what I’ve actually tested and where each tool excels.

Upscayl is completely free, open source, and available on GitHub. It uses AI models but nothing fancy. I tested it on a landscape image, and honestly, it’s decent for quick work or learning purposes. You’re not getting professional results, but if you’re upscaling for social media or web use, it’s absolutely fine. The fact that it’s free makes it worth having installed.

Adobe’s Super Resolution feature is built into Photoshop and it’s included with your Creative Cloud subscription. It’s convenient, honestly quite good, and I use it maybe 20 percent of the time. It’s slower than Topaz and not quite as sharp, but the integration with Photoshop is seamless. If you’re already in Photoshop editing an image, adding Super Resolution is just a couple clicks.

Upscayl Pro is a commercial offering that’s gained attention recently. I tested it against Topaz and found it slightly slower but comparable in quality. It costs around $50 for a lifetime license, which is cheaper than Topaz if you only need occasional upscaling. The interface is less polished than Topaz, though.

For my workflow, I’ve settled on Topaz Gigapixel as my primary tool because consistency matters. When I’m delivering files to clients, I need predictable results. Topaz delivers that. But I keep Upscayl installed for free quick checks and social media work.

Practical Tips for Maximum Upscaling Quality

Here’s what I’ve learned from processing thousands of images. First, the quality of your original Midjourney output matters enormously. If you generate an image with artifacts, blurriness, or weird rendering errors, no upscaler can fix that. Better to regenerate until you’ve got a clean source.

Second, pay attention to compression. Always export from Midjourney as PNG if possible. PNG is lossless, meaning you’re not throwing away data. JPG compression will destroy detail, and upscaling will then amplify those artifacts. I’ve wasted time upscaling mediocre JPGs when the solution was just exporting as PNG in the first place.

Third, don’t expect upscaling to fix composition problems. Upscaling makes pixels sharper and adds detail, but it can’t restructure your image. If your composition is weak at 1024 by 1024, it’s still weak at 4096 by 4096. Start with good outputs and upscaling multiplies that quality.

Fourth, understand that every upscaling method has a point of diminishing returns. Topaz can push a 1024 by 1024 image to about 8000 by 8000 before quality noticeably degrades. Beyond that, you’re just creating larger files with no real benefit. If you need 20,000 by 20,000 pixels, you’re better off generating at higher resolution in Midjourney if possible, rather than upscaling 10x.

Fifth, batch processing is your friend if you use external tools. Topaz Gigapixel has a batch mode that lets you process multiple images overnight. This saves time compared to processing files individually. I usually batch process ten to fifteen images at a time.

Real-World Upscaling Scenarios and Results

Let me walk you through a few actual projects I’ve done this year to show how this works in practice.

Project one was a product visualization for an e-commerce client. I generated fifteen variations of a wireless speaker in different colors. Each was 1024 by 1024 pixels. The client wanted 4K versions for their online store. I used Midjourney’s Subtle upscale twice on each image, which took about five minutes total and cost roughly 15 fast hours. Result: perfect, client was happy, and the images looked crisp on their high-resolution displays.

Project two was a landscape illustration for a print campaign. The client wanted a 16-by-20-inch poster at 300 DPI, which mathematically meant I needed 4800 by 6000 pixels. I generated the image in Midjourney, used Creative upscale once (which doubled dimensions), then ran it through Topaz Gigapixel with their “Very High Quality” preset. Total time: maybe thirty minutes. Total cost: 25 fast hours plus $0 for Topaz since I already owned the license. Result: printable quality, and the poster looked stunning.

Project three was a learning project where a designer asked if I could take a 1024 by 1024 portrait and blow it up to 20,000 by 20,000 pixels for an art installation. This was ambitious, honestly borderline unrealistic, but I tried. I used Midjourney Subtle twice to get to 4096 by 4096, then I ran it through Topaz with maximum settings. The result was a 20,000 by 20,000 pixel image that looked acceptable from normal viewing distance but pixelated if you examined it closely. Was it perfect? No. Was it usable? Yes, for an installation where people view it from several feet away. The learning: know your use case and viewing distance.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

After three years of doing this, I’ve seen people repeat the same mistakes constantly. First is upscaling bad source images. I see users trying to save mediocre Midjourney outputs through upscaling. Upscaling doesn’t improve composition or fix weird artifacts. It just makes bad images bigger. Start with something actually good.

Second is using the wrong upscaling method for the content type. Someone will upscale a face-heavy portrait with a tool designed for landscape photography, and the face looks weird. Different upscaling algorithms handle different content differently. Topaz Gigapixel has presets for faces, landscapes, and other content types. Use them.

Third is not understanding file size implications. A 20,000 by 20,000 pixel PNG file is massive, sometimes 200+ megabytes. That’s not practical for email or web use. Before you upscale to a huge resolution, ask yourself if you actually need it. Most uses cases don’t.

Fourth is forgetting to export properly before upscaling externally. You can’t upscale directly from Midjourney into Topaz. You need to export as a file first. Sounds obvious, but I’ve definitely spent five minutes looking for my image before realizing I hadn’t actually downloaded it.

Fifth is expecting upscaling to add creative content. If your image is missing something, upscaling won’t add it. If you generated a room and forgot a window, Creative upscaling might give you vague window-like shapes, but it’s not adding deliberate content. Regenerate in Midjourney if you need actual content changes.

Subscription Costs and Fast Hours Reality Check

Let me be transparent about costs because this affects your workflow decision. Midjourney’s basic subscription is $10 monthly, which gives you roughly 3 fast hours. That’s 30 to 40 upscaling operations, maybe. Fine for hobby use, but not professional work.

The $30 monthly subscription gives 200 fast hours. That’s my personal choice, and it covers my upscaling needs while leaving room for generation. This costs $360 per year.

The $96 monthly tier gives 900 fast hours, which is overkill for most people unless you’re a professional generating dozens of images daily. That’s $1,152 annually.

On top of that, if you’re using Topaz Gigapixel, that’s another $99.99 one-time cost. For regular professional use, I’d budget roughly $500 to $600 annually for Midjourney subscriptions plus software. That’s actually quite reasonable for the results you get.

If you’re doing occasional upscaling, just the free tier of Upscayl plus the cheapest Midjourney subscription might be sufficient. You’ll hit speed limits, but the cost is minimal.

Final Thoughts

Upscaling in Midjourney has genuinely improved my workflow and what’s possible with AI-generated images. Three years ago, I was struggling to get usable 4K files. Today, I’m regularly delivering print-ready assets in multiple sizes.

The combination of Midjourney’s semantic understanding with external upscaling tools’ pattern interpolation is powerful. Neither alone is perfect, but together they solve a real problem that didn’t have a great solution even two years ago.

I’m honest about limitations though. Upscaling can’t fix fundamental problems with your source image, and there are real diminishing returns beyond a certain point. The 10,000 times upscaling you see in some tutorials is mostly marketing. Real professional work is usually 2x to 4x upscaling maximum.

If you’re serious about this work, invest in learning the tools properly. Spend an afternoon experimenting with Subtle versus Creative. Test Topaz or whichever external tool fits your needs. Understand your actual use case before you choose your approach. That’s honestly what separates people who successfully use these tools from people who get frustrated because they’re expecting magic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I upscale more than twice in Midjourney without quality loss?

Technically yes, but practically, I recommend stopping after two passes. Each upscale uses the AI to interpret the image, and while it’s not destructive per the first or second pass, by the third pass you’re really working with interpreted data that’s been interpreted twice. The artifacts become more noticeable. If you need more than 4x upscaling, switch to Topaz Gigapixel instead.

What’s the maximum resolution Midjourney can upscale to?

Midjourney’s native upscaling maxes out around 8192 by 8192 pixels practically speaking. You could theoretically keep clicking the upscale buttons, but the tool isn’t optimized beyond that and you’re wasting fast hours. For resolutions beyond 8K, use external tools like Topaz.

Is the free version of Upscayl as good as Topaz Gigapixel?

No, but it’s respectable for free. Topaz is sharper and more sophisticated. However, if you’re only occasionally upscaling images for social media or personal use, Upscayl is genuinely adequate. The difference matters mainly for professional print work or extremely large enlargements.

How long does upscaling take?

Midjourney upscaling takes about 30 to 60 seconds per image with fast hours enabled. Topaz Gigapixel depends on image size and your computer specs, but typically 2 to 5 minutes per image on a reasonable modern machine. External upscaling is slower but produces better results for extreme enlargements.