# 4KAgent: Agentic Any Image to 4K Super-Resolution

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07105 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07105/

## Key facts

- Cited by 36 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 9 Jul 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [Agent Banana: High-Fidelity Image Editing with Agentic Thinking and Tooling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.09084/) (2026)
- [UniShield: An Adaptive Multi-Agent Framework for Unified Forgery Image Detection and Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.03161/) (2025)
- [Learning Domain-Aware Task Prompt Representations for Multi-Domain All-in-One Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01725/) (2026)
- [SparkVSR: Interactive Video Super-Resolution via Sparse Keyframe Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.16864/) (2026)
- [TIR-Agent: Training an Explorative and Efficient Agent for Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.27742/) (2026)
- [Vision-Language Model Guided Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.17292/) (2025)
- [PhotoAgent: Exploratory Visual Aesthetic Planning with Large Vision Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.22809/) (2026)
- [GlyphBanana: Advancing Precise Text Rendering Through Agentic Workflows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.12155/) (2026)
- [FusionAgent: A Multimodal Agent with Dynamic Model Selection for Human Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.26908/) (2026)
- [OPERA: An Agent for Image Restoration with End-to-End Joint Planning-Execution Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.22104/) (2026)
- [Self-Evolving Agentic Image Restoration via Deliberate Planning and Intuitive Execution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.28971/) (2026)
- [PaAgent: Portrait-Aware Image Restoration Agent via Subjective-Objective Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.17055/) (2026)
- [Q-Router: Agentic Video Quality Assessment with Expert Model Routing and Artifact Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.08789/) (2025)
- [OP4KSR: One-Step Patch-Free 4K Super-Resolution with Periodic Artifact Suppression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.13457/) (2026)
- [DiTTo: Scalable Order-aware All-in-One Image Restoration Agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.30915/) (2026)
- [EruDiff: Refactoring Knowledge in Diffusion Models for Advanced Text-to-Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.20828/) (2026)
- [Banana100: Breaking NR-IQA Metrics by 100 Iterative Image Replications with Nano Banana Pro](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.03400/) (2026)
- [PixVerve: Advancing Native UHR Image Generation to 100MP with a Large-Scale High-Quality Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.20147/) (2026)
- [Coloring the Noise: Adversarial Sobolev Alignment for Faithful Image Super Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.23264/) (2026)
- [DepthAgent: Towards Better Universal Depth Estimation via Sample-wise Expert Selection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.23281/) (2026)
- [4KLSDB: A Large-Scale Dataset for 4K Image Restoration and Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24762/) (2026)
- [RAPID: A Reproducible Multi-Agent Pipeline for Interpretable Disaster Damage Assessment from Satellite and Street-View Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.21819/) (2026)
- [SkillIR: Evolving Scene-Aware Skills for Agentic Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.21468/) (2026)
- [Subjective and Objective Quality Assessment of Banding Artifacts on Compressed Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08700/) (2025)
- [Synergistic Perception and Generative Recomposition: A Multi-Agent Orchestration for Expert-Level Building Inspection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.20143/) (2026)
- [VQ-Jarvis: Retrieval-Augmented Video Restoration Agent with Sharp Vision and Fast Thought](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.22998/) (2026)
- [Q-DeepSight: Incentivizing Thinking with Images for Image Quality Assessment and Refinement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.16858/) (2026)
- [SmartPhotoCrafter: Unified Reasoning, Generation and Optimization for Automatic Photographic Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19587/) (2026)
- [EvoIR-Agent: Self-Evolving Image Restoration Agentic System via Experience-Driven Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.22208/) (2026)
- [Detect in Any Scene: An Agentic Framework for Object Detection with Experience-Aware Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.31174/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present 4KAgent, a unified agentic super-resolution generalist system designed to universally upscale any image to 4K resolution (and even higher, if applied iteratively). Our system can transform images from extremely low resolutions with severe degradations, for example, highly distorted inputs at 256x256, into crystal-clear, photorealistic 4K outputs. 4KAgent comprises three core components: (1) Profiling, a module that customizes the 4KAgent pipeline based on bespoke use cases; (2) A Perception Agent, which leverages vision-language models alongside image quality assessment experts to analyze the input image and make a tailored restoration plan; and (3) A Restoration Agent, which executes the plan, following a recursive execution-reflection paradigm, guided by a quality-driven mixture-of-expert policy to select the optimal output for each step. Additionally, 4KAgent embeds a specialized face restoration pipeline, significantly enhancing facial details in portrait and selfie photos. We rigorously evaluate our 4KAgent across 11 distinct task categories encompassing a total of 26 diverse benchmarks, setting new state-of-the-art on a broad spectrum of imaging domains. Our evaluations cover natural images, portrait photos, AI-generated content, satellite imagery, fluorescence microscopy, and medical imaging like fundoscopy, ultrasound, and X-ray, demonstrating superior performance in terms of both perceptual (e.g., NIQE, MUSIQ) and fidelity (e.g., PSNR) metrics. By establishing a novel agentic paradigm for low-level vision tasks, we aim to catalyze broader interest and innovation within vision-centric autonomous agents across diverse research communities. We will release all the code, models, and results at: https://4kagent.github.io.