mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Ultra-High-Definition Low-Light Image Enhancement: A Benchmark and Transformer-Based Method

arXiv 2212.11548 ↗First posted 22 Dec 2022cs.CVcited by 174

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Cited by 22 in Diffusion models, but placed by its own abstract, which didn’t fit.

Abstract (arXiv)

As the quality of optical sensors improves, there is a need for processing large-scale images. In particular, the ability of devices to capture ultra-high definition (UHD) images and video places new demands on the image processing pipeline. In this paper, we consider the task of low-light image enhancement (LLIE) and introduce a large-scale database consisting of images at 4K and 8K resolution. We conduct systematic benchmarking studies and provide a comparison of current LLIE algorithms. As a second contribution, we introduce LLFormer, a transformer-based low-light enhancement method. The core components of LLFormer are the axis-based multi-head self-attention and cross-layer attention fusion block, which significantly reduces the linear complexity. Extensive experiments on the new dataset and existing public datasets show that LLFormer outperforms state-of-the-art methods. We also show that employing existing LLIE methods trained on our benchmark as a pre-processing step significantly improves the performance of downstream tasks, e.g., face detection in low-light conditions. The source code and pre-trained models are available at https://github.com/TaoWangzj/LLFormer.

Key facts. Cited by 174 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 28 of its 53 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 22 Dec 2022.

Builds on

28 of 53 references.

References · 28

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
  2. 2020An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scalecited by 29,915
  3. 2021Swin Transformer: Hierarchical Vision Transformer using Shifted Windowscited by 12,082
  4. 2016Layer Normalizationcited by 5,579
  5. 2015Fast R-CNNcited by 2,930
  6. 2021Restormer: Efficient Transformer for High-Resolution Image Restorationcited by 1,618
  7. 2017Enhanced Deep Residual Networks for Single Image Super-Resolutioncited by 1,543
  8. 2016Real-Time Single Image and Video Super-Resolution Using an Efficient Sub-Pixel Convolutional Neural Networkcited by 1,199
  9. 2021Uformer: A General U-Shaped Transformer for Image Restorationcited by 864
  10. 2018Deep Retinex Decomposition for Low-Light Enhancementcited by 720
  11. 2020Zero-Reference Deep Curve Estimation for Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 541
  12. 2019EnlightenGAN: Deep Light Enhancement without Paired Supervisioncited by 466
16 more
  1. 2018Learning to See in the Darkcited by 459
  2. 2019Kindling the Darkness: A Practical Low-light Image Enhancercited by 355
  3. 2020Learning Enriched Features for Real Image Restoration and Enhancementcited by 311
  4. 2020Retinex-inspired Unrolling with Cooperative Prior Architecture Search for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 303
  5. 2015LLNet: A Deep Autoencoder Approach to Natural Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 224
  6. 2021Learning to Enhance Low-Light Image via Zero-Reference Deep Curve Estimationcited by 192
  7. 2020Deblurring by Realistic Blurringcited by 187
  8. 2021Low-Light Image Enhancement with Normalizing Flowcited by 184
  9. 2020Learning Image-adaptive 3D Lookup Tables for High Performance Photo Enhancement in Real-timecited by 163
  10. 2021Low-Light Image and Video Enhancement Using Deep Learning: A Surveycited by 148
  11. 2022Deep Image Deblurring: A Surveycited by 94
  12. 2019UG2+ Track 2: A Collective Benchmark Effort for Evaluating and Advancing Image Understanding in Poor Visibility Environmentscited by 84
  13. 2022AdaInt: Learning Adaptive Intervals for 3D Lookup Tables on Real-time Image Enhancementcited by 70
  14. 2017MSR-net:Low-light Image Enhancement Using Deep Convolutional Networkcited by 43
  15. 2017A Bio-Inspired Multi-Exposure Fusion Framework for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 38
  16. 2020Towards Unsupervised Deep Image Enhancement with Generative Adversarial Networkcited by 38

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 29; 2024: 41; 2025: 57; 2026: 47.

174 papers.

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  1. 2023Diff-Retinex: Rethinking Low-light Image Enhancement with A Generative Diffusion Modelcited by 118
  2. 2023Global Structure-Aware Diffusion Process for Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 92
  3. 2023Residual Denoising Diffusion Modelscited by 68
  4. 2023GridFormer: Residual Dense Transformer with Grid Structure for Image Restoration in Adverse Weather Conditionscited by 62
  5. 2025HVI: A New Color Space for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 62
  6. 2023High-Resolution Document Shadow Removal via A Large-Scale Real-World Dataset and A Frequency-Aware Shadow Erasing Netcited by 36
  7. 2023Aleth-NeRF: Illumination Adaptive NeRF with Concealing Field Assumptioncited by 35
  8. 2023ExposureDiffusion: Learning to Expose for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 29
  9. 2025Directing Mamba to Complex Textures: An Efficient Texture-Aware State Space Model for Image Restorationcited by 27
  10. 2024NTIRE 2024 Challenge on Low Light Image Enhancement: Methods and Resultscited by 26
  11. 2024You Only Need One Color Space: An Efficient Network for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 24
  12. 2024LYT-NET: Lightweight YUV Transformer-based Network for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 22
38 more
  1. 2024Towards Real-world Event-guided Low-light Video Enhancement and Deblurringcited by 22
  2. 2025From Zero to Detail: Deconstructing Ultra-High-Definition Image Restoration from Progressive Spectral Perspectivecited by 22
  3. 2023Resfusion: Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models for Image Restoration Based on Prior Residual Noisecited by 19
  4. 2024Dropout the High-rate Downsampling: A Novel Design Paradigm for UHD Image Restorationcited by 19
  5. 2024Multi-Expert Adaptive Selection: Task-Balancing for All-in-One Image Restorationcited by 18
  6. 2023Devignet: High-Resolution Vignetting Removal via a Dual Aggregated Fusion Transformer With Adaptive Channel Expansioncited by 17
  7. 2024MFDNet: Multi-Frequency Deflare Network for Efficient Nighttime Flare Removalcited by 16
  8. 2024LuSh-NeRF: Lighting up and Sharpening NeRFs for Low-light Scenescited by 16
  9. 2023LLDiffusion: Learning Degradation Representations in Diffusion Models for Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 15
  10. 2025URWKV: Unified RWKV Model with Multi-state Perspective for Low-light Image Restorationcited by 15
  11. 2024PromptRR: Diffusion Models as Prompt Generators for Single Image Reflection Removalcited by 14
  12. 2024Ultra-High-Definition Image Restoration: New Benchmarks and A Dual Interaction Prior-Driven Solutioncited by 14
  13. 2024Fast High Dynamic Range Radiance Fields for Dynamic Scenescited by 13
  14. 2024Efficient Diffusion as Low Light Enhancercited by 13
  15. 2024All-in-one Weather-degraded Image Restoration via Adaptive Degradation-aware Self-prompting Modelcited by 13
  16. 2023Double Domain Guided Real-Time Low-Light Image Enhancement for Ultra-High-Definition Transportation Surveillancecited by 12
  17. 2025MobileIE: An Extremely Lightweight and Effective ConvNet for Real-Time Image Enhancement on Mobile Devicescited by 12
  18. 2023Learning from History: Task-agnostic Model Contrastive Learning for Image Restorationcited by 11
  19. 2023Aleth-NeRF: Low-light Condition View Synthesis with Concealing Fieldscited by 9
  20. 2023Dual Degradation Representation for Joint Deraining and Low-Light Enhancement in the Darkcited by 9
  21. 2023DocDeshadower: Frequency-Aware Transformer for Document Shadow Removalcited by 9
  22. 2024DaLPSR: Leverage Degradation-Aligned Language Prompt for Real-World Image Super-Resolutioncited by 9
  23. 2024LoLI-Street: Benchmarking Low-Light Image Enhancement and Beyondcited by 9
  24. 2023Enlighten Anything: When Segment Anything Model Meets Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 8
  25. 2023JoReS-Diff: Joint Retinex and Semantic Priors in Diffusion Model for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 8
  26. 2024MixNet: Efficient Global Modeling for Ultra-High-Definition Image Restorationcited by 8
  27. 2024Wavelet-based Mamba with Fourier Adjustment for Low-light Image Enhancementcited by 8
  28. 2023Denoising Diffusion Post-Processing for Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 7
  29. 2024Spatial-frequency Dual-Domain Feature Fusion Network for Low-Light Remote Sensing Image Enhancementcited by 7
  30. 2026Neural Discrimination-Prompted Transformers for Efficient UHD Image Restoration and Enhancementcited by 7
  31. 2024Boosting Image Restoration via Priors from Pre-trained Modelscited by 6
  32. 2025UniDemoir'e: Towards Universal Image Demoir'eing with Data Generation and Synthesiscited by 6
  33. 2025Deep Learning-Driven Ultra-High-Definition Image Restoration: A Surveycited by 6
  34. 2025RT-X Net: RGB-Thermal cross attention network for Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 6
  35. 2026Scan Clusters, Not Pixels: A Cluster-Centric Paradigm for Efficient Ultra-high-definition Image Restorationcited by 6
  36. 2026From Zero to Detail: A Progressive Spectral Decoupling Paradigm for UHD Image Restoration with New Benchmarkcited by 6
  37. 2023Blind Face Restoration for Under-Display Camera via Dictionary Guided Transformercited by 5
  38. 2023Bootstrap Diffusion Model Curve Estimation for High Resolution Low-Light Image Enhancementcited by 5

50 most cited of 174 All 174 (JSON)