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dat_9510
Participant
June 16, 2026
Answered

Adobe Firefly's Expand Image function is worse than before.

  • June 16, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 28 views

 It's been a month and a half since I last used Adobe Firefly's Expand Image feature. And now it seems much worse than before. It can only create one image at a time (instead of three), it crashes if you create too many images simultaneously, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, it creates images with significantly lower resolution than before and inferior to the original image. What's going on? If this continues, I'll probably unsubscribe.

    Correct answer Hajar Toutsi

    Hi dat_9510,
    Thanks for providing the file with original copies and outputs.

    You’re observation is totally valid! When you use Generative Expand, the output image will still have the same total resolution as the original. The difference is that now has to fit more of the scene into that same pixel budget. So the original subject (in this case, the face and details) ends up taking up a smaller portion of the frame, which is why things look a little softer compared to the original.
     

    Think of it like zooming out on a photo: the image itself hasn't lost quality, but your subject is now smaller within the frame, so fine details are less visible.

    A few things that can help:

    • After expanding, try using the Upscale tool it's designed exactly for this kind of situation.
    • You can also try expanding in smaller steps rather than one large jump, which tends to give better results.

    Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.

    Hajar
    [Moved to questions]

    2 replies

    Hajar Toutsi
    Community Manager
    Hajar ToutsiCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    June 16, 2026

    Hi dat_9510,
    Thanks for providing the file with original copies and outputs.

    You’re observation is totally valid! When you use Generative Expand, the output image will still have the same total resolution as the original. The difference is that now has to fit more of the scene into that same pixel budget. So the original subject (in this case, the face and details) ends up taking up a smaller portion of the frame, which is why things look a little softer compared to the original.
     

    Think of it like zooming out on a photo: the image itself hasn't lost quality, but your subject is now smaller within the frame, so fine details are less visible.

    A few things that can help:

    • After expanding, try using the Upscale tool it's designed exactly for this kind of situation.
    • You can also try expanding in smaller steps rather than one large jump, which tends to give better results.

    Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.

    Hajar
    [Moved to questions]

    dat_9510
    dat_9510Author
    Participant
    June 16, 2026

    But the problem is that this has only happened recently, not in the past. It seems Adobe has changed the algorithm to save on server costs. One of the reasons I used Adobe Firefly's expand image feature was because it preserved the quality of the original image, but now it no longer does.

    June 16, 2026

    Hey ​@dat_9510 
    Help us, help you.
    Could you provide a short video of your workflow showing the results?
    Original image you tried to upscale, provided in a zip file (to preserve the original details of the image)

    • Settings you selected for the upscale

    Regarding the quality, the quality is as good as the image. The image is a copy of the image provided. Gradually a copy of a copy the quality deteriorates. 

    cheers

    Nate

    dat_9510
    dat_9510Author
    Participant
    June 16, 2026

    This is a video of my expand process: 

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/126N0PD1cqEmZh10eosl4fFPDwmhZiS-f/view?usp=sharing

    I've also included a zip file containing the original and expand images. As you can see, when you zoom in, the expand image becomes blurry compared to the original. This has only happened recently, not before.