# The Eleventh NTIRE 2026 Efficient Super-Resolution Challenge Report

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03198 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.03198/

## Key facts

- Cited by 25 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 36 of its 75 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Apr 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [Mamba: Linear-Time Sequence Modeling with Selective State Spaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00752/) (2023)
- [SwinIR: Image Restoration Using Swin Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10257/) (2021)
- [Vision Mamba: Efficient Visual Representation Learning with Bidirectional State Space Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.09417/) (2024)
- [Rethinking the Value of Network Pruning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.05270/) (2018)
- [Activating More Pixels in Image Super-Resolution Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04437/) (2022)
- [Learning Enriched Features for Real Image Restoration and Enhancement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.06792/) (2020)
- [Lightweight Image Super-Resolution with Information Multi-distillation Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.11856/) (2019)
- [Residual Feature Distillation Network for Lightweight Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.11551/) (2020)
- [MambaIRv2: Attentive State Space Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.15269/) (2024)
- [Omni Aggregation Networks for Lightweight Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10244/) (2023)
- [Perceive-IR: Learning to Perceive Degradation Better for All-in-One Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.15994/) (2024)
- [Spatially-Adaptive Feature Modulation for Efficient Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13800/) (2023)
- [The Ninth NTIRE 2024 Efficient Super-Resolution Challenge Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.10343/) (2024)
- [STAR: Spatial-Temporal Augmentation with Text-to-Video Models for Real-World Video Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.02976/) (2025)
- [Frequency-Assisted Mamba for Remote Sensing Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.04964/) (2024)
- [OneStory: Coherent Multi-Shot Video Generation with Adaptive Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.07802/) (2025)
- [Masked Jigsaw Puzzle: A Versatile Position Embedding for Vision Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.12551/) (2022)
- [Fast and Memory-Efficient Network Towards Efficient Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.08397/) (2022)
- [The Tenth NTIRE 2025 Efficient Super-Resolution Challenge Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10686/) (2025)
- [Swift Parameter-free Attention Network for Efficient Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12770/) (2023)
- [ShapeSplat: A Large-scale Dataset of Gaussian Splats and Their Self-Supervised Pretraining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.10906/) (2024)
- [Degradation-Aware Residual-Conditioned Optimal Transport for Unified Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.01656/) (2024)
- [Distilling Efficient Vision Transformers from CNNs for Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.07265/) (2023)
- [Multimodal Multi-Head Convolutional Attention with Various Kernel Sizes for Medical Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04218/) (2022)
- [Sharing Key Semantics in Transformer Makes Efficient Image Restoration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20008/) (2024)
- [Chorus: Multi-Teacher Pretraining for Holistic 3D Gaussian Scene Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.17817/) (2025)
- [Efficient Attention-Sharing Information Distillation Transformer for Lightweight Single Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.15774/) (2025)
- [AIM 2025 challenge on Inverse Tone Mapping Report: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.13479/) (2025)
- [TerraScope: Pixel-Grounded Visual Reasoning for Earth Observation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.19039/) (2026)
- [MAT: Multi-Range Attention Transformer for Efficient Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.17214/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [NTIRE 2026 Challenge on Robust AI-Generated Image Detection in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11487/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 Challenge on Bitstream-Corrupted Video Restoration: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.06945/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 The Second Challenge on Day and Night Raindrop Removal for Dual-Focused Images: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.10634/) (2026)
- [The Second Challenge on Real-World Face Restoration at NTIRE 2026: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.10532/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 The 3rd Restore Any Image Model (RAIM) Challenge: AI Flash Portrait (Track 3)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11230/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 The 3rd Restore Any Image Model (RAIM) Challenge: Professional Image Quality Assessment (Track 1)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.12512/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 3D Restoration and Reconstruction in Real-world Adverse Conditions: RealX3D Challenge Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.04135/) (2026)
- [The Fourth Challenge on Image Super-Resolution (×4) at NTIRE 2026: Benchmark Results and Method Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.14558/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 Challenge on Video Saliency Prediction: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.14816/) (2026)
- [CLIP-Guided Data Augmentation for Night-Time Image Dehazing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.05500/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 Rip Current Detection and Segmentation (RipDetSeg) Challenge Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17070/) (2026)
- [Dual-Branch Remote Sensing Infrared Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.10112/) (2026)
- [Low Light Image Enhancement Challenge at NTIRE 2026](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17669/) (2026)
- [The First Challenge on Remote Sensing Infrared Image Super-Resolution at NTIRE 2026: Benchmark Results and Method Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.21312/) (2026)
- [Training-Free Model Ensemble for Single-Image Super-Resolution via Strong-Branch Compensation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11564/) (2026)
- [The First Challenge on Mobile Real-World Image Super-Resolution at NTIRE 2026: Benchmark Results and Method Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17306/) (2026)
- [Robust Deepfake Detection, NTIRE 2026 Challenge: Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.24163/) (2026)
- [Beyond Model Design: Data-Centric Training and Self-Ensemble for Gaussian Color Image Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11468/) (2026)
- [FluxFlow: Conservative Flow-Matching for Astronomical Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.03749/) (2026)
- [The First Controllable Bokeh Rendering Challenge at NTIRE 2026](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.05510/) (2026)
- [The Third Challenge on Image Denoising at NTIRE 2026: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.16031/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 Challenge on Efficient Low Light Image Enhancement: Methods and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.02212/) (2026)
- [NTIRE 2026 Low-light Enhancement: Twilight Cowboy Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.09782/) (2026)
- [ASTRA-SR: Atmospheric Seeing and Turbulence Restoration for Astronomical Image Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.26731/) (2026)
- [LightMIS: Ultra-Lightweight Medical Image Segmentation Without a Stage-Wise Decoder](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.28327/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper reviews the NTIRE 2026 challenge on efficient single-image super-resolution with a focus on the proposed solutions and results. The aim of this challenge is to devise a network that reduces one or several aspects, such as runtime, parameters, and FLOPs, while maintaining PSNR of around 26.90 dB on the DIV2K_LSDIR_valid dataset, and 26.99 dB on the DIV2K_LSDIR_test dataset. The challenge had 95 registered participants, and 15 teams made valid submissions. They gauge the state-of-the-art results for efficient single-image super-resolution.