How to Upscale in Midjourney: Subtle, Creative and HD

Midjourney generates images at a working size and then lets you enlarge the ones you choose. With the current default model, V8.2, there are two routes to a large file: generate in standard definition and upscale the image you like, or generate in HD from the start. This guide explains both, the exact sizes you get, what each route costs in GPU time and when an outside upscaler is the better tool.

Where the upscale buttons are

On midjourney.com, click any image on your Create or Organize page to open it. In the Creation Actions section you will find Upscale with two options, Subtle and Creative. Clicking either starts the job straight away, and the result appears on your Create page as a new image. If the Upscale options are missing, open More options and tick Upscale to show them.

In Discord the upscale options appear as buttons under an image; the labels can differ from the website. Older images keep the upscalers of the version they were made with, so an image from V5 or V4 will show different options. Midjourney's Legacy Features page lists them.

Subtle or Creative

Both upscalers double the width and height of the original. The difference is how much they are allowed to change.

• Subtle keeps changes to a minimum and preserves the look of the original as closely as possible. Use it when the image is approved and you only need more pixels: a product shot, a character sheet, a layout a client has signed off.
• Creative adds new detail as it enlarges, so textures, hair and small objects can shift. Midjourney notes that it can sometimes correct small problems such as an awkward hand or an odd expression, and that each Creative run gives a slightly different result.

A sensible routine: run Subtle first. If a detail is wrong, try Creative once or twice and keep whichever version is closest to the brief. Each run uses GPU time, so do not reroll endlessly.

SD, upscaled and HD sizes

In V8.2, standard images start at 1024 by 1024 pixels for a square, and the upscalers take them to 2048 by 2048. HD images are generated at that larger size directly. Midjourney's documentation gives these sizes for common ratios:

Exact HD dimensions can vary slightly for some ratios. HD also has a narrower ratio range: the version chart lists a maximum of 4:1 for HD against 14:1 for standard images.

Upscale or generate in HD?

HD images are switched on in the Version section of the settings panel or with --hd, and an existing SD grid can be rerun in HD with the "Run batch as HD" button. Choosing between the two routes is mostly about cost and control.

The GPU figures are Midjourney's own approximations and can change. The pattern they show is useful anyway: if you know you want large files from a prompt, HD is cheaper than upscaling several images one by one. If you are still exploring, SD plus an upscale of the single winner costs less.

Two limits to remember. HD images cannot currently be upscaled further. And using Pan, Zoom Out or Vary Region on an HD image downscales the result to SD, so do your edits first and upscale last, or upscale the edited result again.

Upscaling for print

Midjourney's own guidance is to aim for 300 dots per inch for a sharp print. Divide the pixel width by 300 to get the largest sharp print in inches: a 2048-pixel square prints at about 6.8 by 6.8 inches (around 17 cm). Posters seen from a distance are often printed at 150 DPI, which doubles the size, at the cost of some sharpness up close.

To change the DPI value without changing the pixels, open the file in an editor such as Photoshop, set the resolution to 300 with resampling switched off, and save. That only labels the file for print. For anything larger you need more pixels, which means an outside upscaler: Midjourney itself points people to third-party tools and its community for recommendations. Our comparison of AI image upscalers covers the main options.

1. Upscale or generate in HD inside Midjourney first.
2. Decide the print size and work out the pixels you need (inches x 300).
3. Upscale the difference in an outside tool, using a faithful mode for approved images.
4. Check a 100% crop of faces, text and edges before sending it to print.

Things that break when you upscale

• Seamless tiles. Midjourney warns that upscaling --tile images often breaks the repeating pattern, and recommends not upscaling them.
• Text. Creative upscaling can redraw letters. Use Subtle, or add type in a design tool after upscaling.
• Consistency across a set. If a series must match, upscale every image with the same upscaler. Mixing Subtle and Creative in one campaign shows.

Try it

studio product photograph of a matte ceramic coffee cup on a pale stone plinth, soft window light from the left, clean shadow, minimal background --ar 4:5 --raw --s 50

Pick the best of the four, run Subtle, then run Creative on the same image and compare the rim of the cup and the stone texture at full size. You will see straight away which upscaler suits product work. For finals, rerun the prompt with --hd instead and compare the cost.