AI-Powered Restoration of Classic Chinese Films: iQIYI’s ZoomAI Video Enhancement

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, iQIYI launched a “Classic Film Restoration Exclusive Screening” zone on July 1 on its movie channel.

The zone features well‑known red‑themed classics such as 东方红 , 小兵张嘎 , 地道战 , 冰山上的来客 , 上甘岭 and others, covering the Anti‑Japanese War, Liberation War and Korean War periods.

Using iQIYI’s self‑developed ZoomAI video enhancement technology, more than 140 classic titles have been “repaired as new”, including the first‑time streaming of restored versions of 东方红 , 地道战 , 小兵张嘎 , 白毛女 , etc.

A special “Light Cinema” section is provided for visually‑impaired audiences, offering films such as 铁道游击队 , 南征北战 , 英雄儿女 , 刘胡兰 , 上甘岭 .

Historical context: before 1949 most Chinese film reels were lost; the surviving copies constitute only about 10 % of the original output and suffer from scratches, dust, mold, jitter, and flicker.

ZoomAI’s modular AI pipeline—scratch removal, super‑resolution, intelligent frame interpolation, colour enhancement, facial restoration, etc.—enables one‑click, fully automated restoration. Compared with manual frame‑by‑frame work, ZoomAI improves restoration speed by roughly 500 times while keeping high visual fidelity.

Since its deployment, ZoomAI has processed over 140 classic movies, millions of user‑generated videos, and more than 20 000 popular series and animations, delivering a 5‑10× boost in viewership for restored titles.

The system has earned iQIYI the “Old‑Film Restoration Honor” at the 28th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival and first‑place in the “Video Restoration” category of the inaugural MediaAIAC competition.

In 2020 iQIYI partnered with Xiamen University to establish a joint film‑restoration laboratory. The restored version of 小兵张嘎 demonstrates AI‑driven scratch removal, up‑scaling to 4K, noise reduction, and smart frame interpolation, delivering an immersive viewing experience.

Audio enhancement is also part of the pipeline: AI‑based noise reduction, up‑mixing mono tracks to stereo and 5.1 surround sound, improving both sound quality and immersion.

Future work will continue to combine AI innovation with collaborations across the film industry and academic institutions to preserve and revitalize audiovisual heritage.