iQiyi and Xiamen University Launch AI-Powered Film Restoration Joint Laboratory

iQiyi and Xiamen University jointly announced the establishment of the Film Restoration Joint Laboratory at the 33rd Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in Xiamen.

The lab combines Xiamen University's expertise in film history and preservation with iQiyi's AI capabilities in video understanding, image recognition, and enhancement, aiming to drive standardized AI-assisted film restoration processes.

According to iQiyi's Vice President Xie Danming, AI technology boosts restoration efficiency by approximately 500 times compared to manual frame-by-frame restoration while balancing quality.

The lab's first restoration outcome is the 4K version of the 1960s film "Little Soldier Zhang Ga," which underwent physical cleaning, scanning, and AI-based video enhancement using iQiyi's proprietary ZoomAI technology, including scratch removal, super‑resolution, denoising, sharpening, and intelligent frame interpolation.

Audio restoration employed AI algorithms to eliminate hiss, crackle, and noise, and deep‑learning models to upmix mono audio to stereo and 5.1 surround sound.

The restored film balances preservation of original artistic style with faithful reproduction of the source imagery, achieving the principle of “repair as old as old.”

iQiyi has previously received honors for film restoration, with over 140 classic titles restored and made available globally, and has completed national classic TV digitization projects.