> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/xinntao/Real-ESRGAN/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Anime Model Comparisons

> Performance comparisons between Real-ESRGAN anime models and competing solutions

Detailed comparisons of Real-ESRGAN anime video models against other popular anime upscaling solutions.

## AnimeVideo-v3 Updates

Released on **April 24, 2022**, RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 includes significant improvements:

* **Better naturalness**: More natural-looking results that preserve the original art style
* **Fewer artifacts**: Reduced visual artifacts and anomalies in upscaled output
* **More faithful to original colors**: Better color preservation and accuracy
* **Better texture restoration**: Improved detail and texture recovery
* **Better background restoration**: Enhanced background detail and clarity

## Compared Methods

RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 is compared against the following anime upscaling methods:

### waifu2x

* Repository: [nihui/waifu2x-ncnn-vulkan](https://github.com/nihui/waifu2x-ncnn-vulkan)
* Test parameters: `tile=0`, `noiselevel=2`
* One of the most popular anime upscaling tools

### Real-CUGAN

* Repository: [bilibili/ailab Real-CUGAN](https://github.com/bilibili/ailab/tree/main/Real-CUGAN)
* Version tested: [20220227 release](https://github.com/bilibili/ailab/releases/tag/Real-CUGAN-add-faster-low-memory-mode)
* Test parameters: `cache_mode=0`, `tile=0`, `alpha=1`
* Developed by Bilibili's AI Lab

### RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3

* Our latest anime video upscaling model
* Achieves better results with faster inference speed

## Visual Comparisons

<Note>
  You may need to zoom in or click images to compare fine details. The images shown are resized and cropped patches from the original outputs.

  Full resolution inputs and outputs are available on [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bc_Hje1Nqop9NDkUvci2VACSjL7HZMRp?usp=sharing).
</Note>

### More Natural Results and Better Background Restoration

RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 produces more natural-looking results with superior background detail recovery compared to waifu2x and Real-CUGAN.

|                                                      Input                                                      |                                                      waifu2x                                                      |                                                      Real-CUGAN                                                      |                                             RealESRGAN<br />AnimeVideo-v3                                            |
| :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164452769-5d8cb4f8-1708-42d2-b941-f44a6f136feb.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164452767-c825cdec-f721-4ff1-aef1-fec41f146c4c.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164452755-3be50895-e3d4-432d-a7b9-9085c2a8e771.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164452771-be300656-379a-4323-a755-df8025a8c451.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454047-22eeb493-3fa9-4142-9fc2-6f2a1c074cd5.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454046-d5e79f8f-00a0-4b55-bc39-295d0d69747a.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454040-87886b11-9d08-48bd-862f-0d4aed72eb19.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454055-73dc9f02-286e-4d5c-8f70-c13742e08f42.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451232-bacf64fc-e55a-44db-afbb-6b31ab0f8973.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451318-f309b61a-75b8-4b74-b5f3-595725f1cf0b.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451348-994f8a35-adbe-4a4b-9c61-feaa294af06a.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451361-9b7d376e-6f75-4648-b752-542b44845d1c.png) |

### Fewer Artifacts and Better Detailed Textures

RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 produces cleaner results with fewer artifacts and better preservation of fine textures and details.

|                                                      Input                                                      |                                                      waifu2x                                                      |                                                      Real-CUGAN                                                      |                                             RealESRGAN<br />AnimeVideo-v3                                            |
| :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164448411-148a7e5c-cfcd-4504-8bc7-e318eb883bb6.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164448633-dfc15224-b6d2-4403-a3c9-4bb819979364.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164448771-0d359509-5293-4d4c-8e3c-86a2a314ea88.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164448848-1a4ff99e-075b-4458-9db7-2c89e8160aa0.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451898-83311cdf-bd3e-450f-b9f6-34d7fea3ab79.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451894-6c56521c-6561-40d6-a3a5-8dde2c167b8a.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451888-af9b47e3-39dc-4f3e-b0d7-d372d8191e2a.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164451901-31ca4dd4-9847-4baa-8cde-ad50f4053dcf.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454578-73c77392-77de-49c5-b03c-c36631723192.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454574-b1ede5f0-4520-4eaa-8f59-086751a34e62.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454567-4cb3fdd8-6a2d-4016-85b2-a305a8ff80e4.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454583-7f243f20-eca3-4500-ac43-eb058a4a101a.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164453482-0726c842-337e-40ec-bf6c-f902ee956a8b.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164453480-71d5e091-5bfa-4c77-9c57-4e37f66ca0a3.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164453468-c295d3c9-3661-45f0-9ecd-406a1877f76e.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164453486-3091887c-587c-450e-b6fe-905cb518d57e.png) |

### Additional Comparisons

More examples demonstrating RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3's superior performance across various anime content types.

|                                                      Input                                                      |                                                      waifu2x                                                      |                                                      Real-CUGAN                                                      |                                             RealESRGAN<br />AnimeVideo-v3                                            |
| :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454933-67697f7c-b6ef-47dc-bfca-822a78af8acf.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454931-9450de7c-f0b3-4638-9c1e-0668e0c41ef0.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454926-ed746976-786d-41c5-8a83-7693cd774c3a.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164454936-8abdf0f0-fb30-40eb-8281-3b46c0bcb9ae.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164456948-807c1476-90b6-4507-81da-cb986d01600c.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164456943-25e89de9-d7e5-4f61-a2e1-96786af6ae9e.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164456954-b468c447-59f5-4594-9693-3683e44ba3e6.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164456957-640f910c-3b04-407c-ac20-044d72e19735.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455312-6411b6e1-5823-4131-a4b0-a6be8a9ae89f.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455310-f2b99646-3a22-47a4-805b-dc451ac86ddb.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455294-35471b42-2826-4451-b7ec-6de01344954c.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455305-fa4c9758-564a-4081-8b4e-f11057a0404d.png) |
| ![Input](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455672-447353c9-2da2-4fcb-ba4a-7dd6b94c19c1.png) | ![waifu2x](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455669-df384631-baaa-42f8-9150-40f658471558.png) | ![Real-CUGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455657-68006bf0-138d-4981-aaca-8aa927d2f78a.png) | ![RealESRGAN](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/11482921/164455664-0342b93e-a62a-4b36-a90e-7118f3f1e45d.png) |

## Performance Benchmarks

### PyTorch Implementation

Inference speed comparison on NVIDIA V100 GPU. Times represent model inference only and exclude I/O operations.

<Note>
  All measurements are frames per second (fps) for model inference time only. I/O time is not included.
</Note>

|  GPU |    Input Resolution   | waifu2x | Real-CUGAN | RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 |
| :--: | :-------------------: | :-----: | :--------: | :----------------------: |
| V100 | 1921 x 1080 (Full HD) |    -    |   3.4 fps  |       **10.0 fps**       |
| V100 |    1280 x 720 (HD)    |    -    |   7.2 fps  |       **22.6 fps**       |
| V100 |     640 x 480 (SD)    |    -    |  24.4 fps  |       **65.9 fps**       |

### Key Takeaways

* **Full HD (1080p)**: RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 is **\~3x faster** than Real-CUGAN
* **HD (720p)**: RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 is **\~3x faster** than Real-CUGAN
* **SD (480p)**: RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 is **\~2.7x faster** than Real-CUGAN

RealESRGAN-AnimeVideo-v3 achieves superior visual quality while maintaining significantly faster inference speeds across all resolutions.

### ncnn Implementation

Benchmarks for the ncnn (Neural Compute) implementation are planned for future releases. The ncnn version provides:

* Optimized CPU inference
* Vulkan GPU acceleration support
* Mobile device compatibility
* Lower memory footprint

## Download Full Resolution Samples

For detailed examination of the quality differences, download the full resolution input and output images from the [Google Drive folder](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bc_Hje1Nqop9NDkUvci2VACSjL7HZMRp?usp=sharing).