Aiarty Image Enhancer for Mac: Sharpen, Denoise and Upscale Photos with AI, Offline on Your Mac
Aiarty Image Enhancer for Mac is a macOS app from Digiarty that uses AI models to remove noise and blur from photos, restore faces and upscale images up to 16,000 pixels, all processed on your own Mac. The Lifetime License for 3 Macs costs $155.00 on the order page, and it runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs from macOS 10.15 Catalina on.
It's for the grainy high-ISO shot from an indoor party, the heavily cropped bird photo, the 1990s scan of a family portrait you'd like to print bigger, and the AI-generated artwork that's too small for a poster.
Quick facts
- Current version: 3.14 (Mac download dated September 29, 2026)
- Developer: Digiarty Software, Inc., the company behind WinX DVD Ripper and VideoProc
- Runs on: macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon (M1 to M5), macOS 10.15 or later on Intel Macs. The Windows version is a separate purchase.
- Largest output on a Mac: 16,000 pixels on the longest side
- Formats: reads JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP, TIFF, AVIF, JPEG 2000 and RAW files from most camera makers; saves JPG, PNG (8 or 16-bit), TIFF, DNG, AVIF and HEIC
- Price: $155.00 for the Lifetime License (3 Macs, lifetime updates)
- Free trial: enhanced exports for 10 days (3 of every 10 images in a batch), then only before/after comparison images
- Money-back guarantee: 30 days
- What we checked: the Mac download we fetched from Aiarty on October 21, 2026 is a 123 MB disk image containing Aiarty Image Enhancer 3.14 (build 20260922), which declares macOS 10.15 as its minimum. The order page showed the Lifetime License for Mac at $155.00 on October 21, 2026, and Aiarty's own buy page offered the same license for $109.00 that day. We didn't run the app on a Mac or time a batch.
Before you buy
Aiarty advertises upscaling to 32K, but that's the Windows limit; on a Mac the ceiling is 16,000 pixels, still enough for a poster-sized print from most photos. Speed depends heavily on your Mac: Apple Silicon with macOS 12 or later gets CoreML acceleration, while an older Intel Mac will be slow. The license is Mac-only, so a Windows PC needs its own license. Try the free trial on a few of your own photos within the first 10 days, since that's when trial exports are still full enhancements.
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Overview
Aiarty Image Enhancer is built around a large before/after preview. Drop in photos or a whole folder, and they line up as thumbnails along the bottom. The settings panel on the right holds the AI model, the upscale factor and a strength slider, followed by optional sections for Edit, Color, Face Restoration, HDR, AI Eraser and Text. Two buttons finish the job: Single Export for the current photo and Batch Export to apply the same settings to every image.
Aiarty Image Enhancer's preview from its user guide, shown on Windows: an old 1024 x 761 portrait on the left and the 2048 x 1522 result from the Real-Photo v3 model on the right, with the settings panel, the image strip and the Single and Batch Export buttons.
All processing happens on your Mac, so photos aren't uploaded anywhere. The app downloads each AI model the first time you use it and needs the internet to activate the license, but not to enhance images. It keeps your photos' EXIF data (camera, lens, exposure and date).
Features
Five AI models for different kinds of images
Aiarty Image Enhancer matches the model to the picture. More-Detail GAN v3 generates fine detail in skin, hair, fur, feathers and textures, and works best at 2x. Real-Photo v3 is for real photographs and old photo restoration, keeps closest to the original, and handles 1x and 2x only. AIGCsmooth v3 suits AI art, anime and line art. The older More-Detail GAN v2 and Smooth Diff v2 (cartoons, glass and smooth surfaces) are still there. A Strength slider tones the effect down when it looks overdone.
The AI Model menu (Windows build) with all five models, and the Strength slider set to 0.72 below it.
Upscaling for screens and prints, with 2-pass cleanup
Aiarty Image Enhancer upscales by 2x, 4x or 8x, to 1K, 2K, 4K or 8K presets, or to a custom width or height (up to 4,096 pixels with the GAN and Smooth models). Pick 1x to clean up noise, blur, pixelation and JPEG blocking without enlarging. 2-pass processing adds a cleanup pass before upscaling, which helps with blurry or blocky sources, and you can set the output DPI from 72 to 1000 for printing.
Face restoration for old and soft portraits
Aiarty Image Enhancer's Face Restoration rebuilds eyes, teeth, skin and hair in blurry, low-resolution or damaged portraits. Fidelity stays closest to reality and suits faces with clear outlines; Rebuild reconstructs faces where key details are visible but blurred. You can pick which faces in a group photo to restore, and Aiarty suggests starting the strength at 0.7 to 0.9.
AI Eraser, color and HDR
Aiarty Image Enhancer's experimental AI Eraser removes photobombers, signs, wires and text: paint over them with a brush, apply, and step back through the log if needed. It fills backgrounds, not cut-outs. The color panel covers white balance, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks and saturation, plus a Restore Color slider to pull AI output back toward the original. SDR to HDR exports 10-bit HDR images in Neutral, Bright or Graded styles, best viewed on an HDR display.
The AI Eraser (experimental) panel enabled with the Edit Mask button, brush settings and step log, on a 4000 x 2598 bird photo with 2-pass processing on (Windows build).
RAW files and a Lightroom Classic round trip
Aiarty Image Enhancer opens RAW files from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax and others, and can save 16-bit TIFF or DNG for further editing. In Lightroom Classic, choose Photo > Edit In > Aiarty Image Enhancer; the enhanced file is saved back to the original path so Lightroom picks it up.
Benefits
- Print bigger from what you already have: an old 2 or 5-megapixel photo can be upscaled for an 8x10 print or larger.
- Rescue near-misses: slightly soft focus or high-ISO grain no longer means deleting the shot.
- One pass for many problems: noise, blur, faces and size are fixed in a single export, and a batch applies it to a whole folder.
- A one-time price: the Lifetime License includes future versions and AI model updates.
Real-World Uses
- Family archives: scan old prints, run Real-Photo v3 with Face Restoration, and export at 300 DPI for reprints.
- Wildlife and sports: clean up a heavily cropped, high-ISO bird shot so the feathers hold up.
- AI art: take a 1024-pixel generated image to 4K or 8K with AIGCsmooth v3 for a poster or wallpaper.
- Online shops: batch-upscale small supplier product photos to a consistent size.
- Lightroom users: send a few problem RAW files to Aiarty for denoising, then finish them in Lightroom.
Who It's For, and Who Should Skip It
Good fit: Mac photographers and family historians with old, small or noisy photos, AI artists who need larger files, and anyone who prefers a one-time price and offline processing to a subscription or an upload service.
Skip it if: your photos are already sharp, since extra enhancement can alter fine detail that was fine to begin with. Skip it too if you need more than 16,000 pixels on a Mac, a full photo editor with layers and masks (Aiarty is a pre- or post-processing step, not a Photoshop replacement), or if you're on an old Intel Mac and need fast batches. For a single quick fix, a free online upscaler may be enough.
Usage Guide
- Install: download the disk image (123 MB), open it and drag Aiarty Image Enhancer to Applications, then launch it.
- Add photos: drag images or a folder onto the window, or use File > Add Images. The first time you pick a model it downloads automatically.
- Pick hardware: choose the GPU in the Hardware menu if your Mac offers one.
- Choose a model and size: Real-Photo v3 for photos, More-Detail GAN v3 for texture, AIGCsmooth v3 for AI art; then x1, x2, x4, x8 or a preset.
- Fine-tune: adjust Strength, and tick 2-pass, Face Restoration, Color, HDR or AI Eraser as needed. Check the before/after preview, zooming in on faces and edges.
- Export: set the format, quality and DPI in Export Settings, then click Single Export or Batch Export.
- Register: after buying, open the Aiarty Image Enhancer menu, choose Register, and paste your license email and code.
Where it falls short
- It guesses. Aiarty's own review page warns that severely out-of-focus or heavily damaged photos leave too little information, so reconstructed detail "may look plausible without matching the original subject." Check faces and text closely.
- Speed varies a lot. One Trustpilot reviewer waited 15 to 20 minutes per step.
- DNG output trouble was reported. A March 2026 Trustpilot review said DNG files came out with artifacts and turned green in Lightroom Classic. Test DNG exports with your own camera's files during the trial.
- Features come and go. The "Keep the Prompt" option for AI-art metadata was removed in version 3.7, and the AI Eraser is still labeled experimental.
What Users Say
Trustpilot: 3.9 out of 5 from 22 reviews
Aiarty's Trustpilot page covers all its products; 82% of the reviews are 5 stars. These Image Enhancer reviews were read through a summarizer, so treat the wording as close but not guaranteed exact.
Mark D. (5 stars, December 2024), titled "Issue with Mac version 3.0": "when I reported it, they got right on it and fixed the issue within a day or two." The review ends: "GREAT customer service!"
E. Geertsema (2 stars, December 2025), titled "Processing a photo takes forever": "after every step I had to wait about 15 to 20 minutes", adding "The quality of the upscaled picture was very good though, but with such slow processing times it's not workable for me."
Michael Knibbs (1 star, March 2026), titled "Downgrading due to bugs": "the product is vary buggy and leaves artifacts in DNG files", and "the DNGs when imported into LRC turn green!"
Randal (5 stars, December 2024) praised a quick reply from support that let them carry on restoring photos for his family tree.
Photographers and outlets quoted by Aiarty
Aiarty's product and review pages collect many quotes. Several of the articles behind them are sponsored (PetaPixel's, for example, is labeled "Sponsored"), so weigh them accordingly. The more specific ones:
Fstoppers: "I tested Aiarty Image Enhancer with around 50 photos, the results are free of artifacts, and the details and sharpness Aiarty adds to my photos look natural."
NikonEye, on an old photo: "The final photo still felt like an old photograph rather than an AI-generated reconstruction."
GottaPics: "I had a folder with 100 images, all about 1024p, and I wanted to upscale them to 2048p. I thought it would take forever, but it only took around 12 minutes."
Sophia Bennett, a user: "I use Aiarty only as my first step in the editing process. Just for denoise and upscale. It's then saved as dng and edited properly elsewhere."
The pattern: people like the natural-looking detail, old-photo restoration and the simple interface, and Aiarty's support gets consistent praise. The complaints are about slow processing on some computers and DNG problems in a Lightroom workflow.
Comparisons
Mac vs. Windows version
The two versions share the same models and tools, but the Windows version upscales to 32,000 pixels against 16,000 on a Mac, and each license works only on its own platform. Buy the version for the computer you'll actually process on.
Aiarty Image Enhancer vs. online upscalers
Aiarty Image Enhancer keeps photos on your Mac, reads RAW files, processes whole folders and has no per-image credits. Online upscalers need no install and no fast computer, which suits a handful of images. For private family photos, RAW files or regular batches, the desktop app is the better fit.
Editions and Pricing
| License (Mac) |
Price |
Term |
Macs |
Updates |
| Lifetime License (the one sold here) |
$155.00 on the order page |
One-time payment |
3 |
Lifetime |
| Standard License |
$85.00 a year list ($59.00 on Aiarty's buy page) |
Renews yearly, cancel anytime |
1 |
For 1 year |
Both include commercial use, unlimited exports and a 30-day money-back guarantee, and Aiarty emails a reminder 7 days before a Standard License renews. Sales tax is added at checkout. Education and non-profit discounts and multi-seat licenses are available from Aiarty's sales team.
FAQs
Does Aiarty Image Enhancer run natively on Apple Silicon Macs?
Yes. Aiarty Image Enhancer supports M1 through M5 Macs on macOS 11 or later and uses Apple's CoreML acceleration on macOS 12 or later. Intel Macs on macOS 10.15 or later are supported too.
Can I use one Aiarty Image Enhancer license on both my Mac and my PC?
No. Aiarty Image Enhancer licenses are platform-specific: the Mac Lifetime License covers up to 3 Macs, and a Windows PC needs a Windows license.
What happens when the Aiarty Image Enhancer trial ends?
After the 10-day period, Aiarty Image Enhancer's trial still runs, but every export becomes a before-and-after comparison image instead of a clean enhanced photo. Buying a license removes the limit without reinstalling.
Can I sell prints or stock photos made with Aiarty Image Enhancer?
Yes. Both Aiarty Image Enhancer licenses include commercial use: prints, stock images, client work and ads, as long as you have the rights to the original photos.
Does Aiarty Image Enhancer change the original files?
No. Aiarty Image Enhancer writes new files to the output folder you choose and keeps the EXIF data. The exception is the Lightroom Classic round trip, where the enhanced image is saved over the copy Lightroom sent; Aiarty asks before overwriting files with the same name.
How do refunds work for Aiarty Image Enhancer?
Aiarty Image Enhancer has a 30-day money-back guarantee tied to technical problems: a refund is granted if support can't resolve or work around an issue within that period, so contact support first with the details.
System Requirements
- Apple Silicon Macs: M1, M2, M3, M4 or M5 (including Pro, Max and Ultra), macOS 11 Big Sur or later, 8 GB RAM or more
- Intel Macs: any Intel processor, macOS 10.15 Catalina or later, 4 GB RAM
- Acceleration: CoreML on macOS 12 or later
- Disk: 123 MB download, plus space for AI models downloaded on first use
Conclusion
Aiarty Image Enhancer for Mac is worth it if you have an Apple Silicon Mac and a steady supply of photos that are too small, too soft or too noisy. The reason to buy it is the combination of natural-looking results, face restoration and RAW support in a one-time license that covers 3 Macs. The reason to hesitate is reliability at the edges: slow processing on some machines and a reported DNG problem in Lightroom. Use the 10-day trial on your hardest photos and your usual export format, and buy only if both hold up.
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