Trust Center
Security, Ethics & Transparency
How Upscayl earns trust through open source transparency, local-only processing, and clear responsibilities — no black boxes, no cloud uploads.
Legal Usage Policy
You may use Upscayl only with content you have the legal right to process, enhance, and distribute. This includes your own works, properly licensed stock, and material where you hold explicit permission from rights holders.
Upscayl must not be used to create misleading media, violate privacy, circumvent copyright, produce non-consensual imagery, or facilitate fraud. Enhanced outputs do not automatically grant new intellectual property rights over third-party source material.
Organizations deploying Upscayl at scale remain responsible for internal compliance, data retention policies, and export controls applicable to their jurisdiction and industry.
Ethical Usage Statement
AI upscaling reconstructs detail that may not have existed in the original capture. Disclose synthetic enhancement where accuracy matters, such as journalism, scientific imaging, legal evidence, and identity verification contexts.
Use enhancement to restore and preserve memories, improve accessibility of visual media, and support legitimate creative production. Do not present AI-upscaled images as unmodified originals when doing so would mislead viewers or stakeholders.
We encourage responsible experimentation: test models on small samples, document settings for reproducibility, and respect cultural sensitivity when restoring historical or personal archives.
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Open Source Transparency
Upscayl is free and open source software licensed under the Affero GNU Public License. Source code is publicly available for audit, fork, and community contribution. Mirrors distribute identical project snapshots for availability.
The upscaling stack builds on established components including Real-ESRGAN via real-esrgan-ncnn-vulkan, providing a traceable chain from input image to enhanced output. Dependencies can be reviewed by security researchers and integrators.
Linux-first development prioritizes transparency in packaging for open platforms while maintaining parity for Windows and macOS users.
No Malware Clarification
Upscayl is not malware. It is a legitimate image processing application distributed as open source with hundreds of thousands of community downloads and consistently positive user ratings on software mirrors.
Antivirus alerts on GPU-accelerated binaries are often heuristic false positives. Always verify file integrity with published SHA256 checksums before installation. Never run unsigned copies from untrusted third parties.
The desktop application does not require uploading your images to remote servers for core upscaling functionality, reducing exfiltration risk compared to cloud-only alternatives.
Privacy and Local Processing
Images processed with Upscayl Desktop remain on your device during enhancement. This local-first design supports confidential creative work, proprietary product photography, and regulated environments that prohibit cloud inference.
You control output paths, retention, and downstream sharing. Upscayl does not substitute for your organization's data governance policies.
User Responsibility Disclaimer
Upscayl is provided as-is without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Authors and contributors are not liable for damages arising from use or inability to use the software.
Hardware requirements, especially Vulkan-compatible GPUs, are strict by design. Performance and quality vary by model, drivers, and source material. Users assume responsibility for verifying outputs before production use.
By downloading and using Upscayl, you agree to comply with applicable laws, the AGPL license, and the ethical guidelines described on this page. For installation safety, see download integrity guidance and troubleshooting guides.