Real-ESRGAN Alternative in 2026: Upscale with LibreYOLO
Xuban
Real-ESRGAN is not formally archived, but its latest GitHub release, version 0.3.0, dates to September 2022. LibreYOLO runs its 2x and 4x checkpoints through the regular prediction API.
from libreyolo import LibreYOLO
model = LibreYOLO("LibreRealESRGANx4-restore.pt")
result = model("large-photo.jpg", tile=512, save=True)
print(result.restored.array.shape)
LibreYOLO supports 2x, 4x and fast 4x checkpoints, with tiled prediction, PSNR/SSIM validation and export. Training is not implemented. The upstream denoise-strength blend is also outside this port.
Use pip install libreyolo to try it. Full restore options are in the Real-ESRGAN docs. For depth, see the MiDaS alternative.