Expand an image with AI fill (on your device)
Make a photo wider or taller and let a model paint the new edges to continue the scene. How to do it, why small steps work better than one big one, what it is good and bad at, and how to fix the seams.
Beginner2 min readUpdated 27 September 2026Editor · Expand with AI fill
Good and bad at
| Works well | Works poorly |
|---|---|
| Sky, walls, water, grass, sand, plain studio backgrounds | Faces, hands, text and logos cut by the edge |
| Adding 10 to 30 per cent on a side | Doubling the canvas in one go |
| Turning a portrait photo into a square or 4:5 | Inventing a whole new part of a scene |
Steps
- Crop first so nothing important touches the edge you are expanding.
- Image, Expand with AI fill…. Type the new width and height, or tick Relative and add pixels. Click the anchor square for the side the photo stays on.
- Apply. The Editor says the new area was filled on its own layer at the bottom.
- Look at the seam at 100 per cent (Ctrl+1). Soften it with the Clone stamp (S) or Spot heal (J) on the AI fill layer.
- For a bigger expansion, repeat in steps of about 25 per cent rather than once.
The model works on 512 × 512 areas, which is why modest expansions look best and large ones on big photos can come back softer than the original pixels.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The model downloads to your browser once and runs there. The request for the model carries nothing about your image.
Why is the new area blurrier than the photo?
The model paints at a lower resolution and the result is scaled up. Expand in smaller steps, or add a little Film Grain to match the texture.
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