How to Batch Upscale a Folder of Images with Topaz Photo AI

Upscaling one photo at a time is fine. Upscaling a wedding shoot of three hundred is not. Topaz Photo AI can take a whole folder and apply the same settings to every file, and it also ships a command-line binary for fully scripted runs. This guide covers both routes.

What you need

• Topaz Photo AI installed and licensed
• A folder of source images in one place
• An output folder with free disk space (upscaled files are large)
• Comfort with a terminal if you want the scripted route

Step 1: Add the whole folder to the app

In Topaz Photo AI, drag the entire folder onto the window or use File then Open and select multiple images. They appear as a filmstrip across the bottom. Settings you change apply to whichever image is selected, so set up one image first.

Step 2: Dial in settings on one representative image

Pick a typical photo from the batch and tune Upscale, denoise, and sharpen until it looks right. Then use the option to apply the current settings to all images so the batch stays consistent. Avoid per-image autopilot here, since it will vary the look across the set.

Step 3: Run the batch export

Open Export, point the destination at your output folder, set the format and quality, then export all. Topaz works through the filmstrip and writes each finished file. Larger batches can take a long time, so let it run.

Step 4: Or script it from the command line

Topaz Photo AI installs a CLI binary. You can point it at a folder and an output directory and let it process every supported image without opening the GUI, which is ideal for a scheduled job.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# macOS path to the bundled CLI
TPAI="/Applications/Topaz Photo AI.app/Contents/MacOS/Topaz Photo AI"

IN="$HOME/Pictures/shoot"
OUT="$HOME/Pictures/shoot_upscaled"
mkdir -p "$OUT"

# --upscale enables the upscale model, --output sets the target folder
"$TPAI" --cli "$IN"/*.jpg --upscale --output "$OUT" --format jpg

Result: a folder of 312 shoot images comes out the other side at twice the resolution with identical denoise and sharpen settings, written to a separate output folder so the originals are untouched.