What is Inpainting & outpainting?
Editing part of an image with AI (inpainting) or extending it beyond its edges (outpainting).
Inpainting lets you select an area — a stray person in the background, a wrong earring, a messy wall — and describe what should replace it. The rest of the picture stays untouched.
Outpainting grows the canvas: turning a portrait into a wide landscape shot, or a square photo into a 9:16 reel background, with the AI filling in the new space to match.
Example
Select the photobomber behind you and prompt “replace with matching beach and sea”. Or extend a square festival photo to 9:16 for stories.
Related terms
Giving the AI an existing photo plus instructions, so it transforms that image instead of starting from nothing.
Using AI to enlarge an image and add believable detail, so a small picture looks sharp when printed or viewed full-screen.
Telling an image model what you don't want — extra fingers, blur, text, watermarks — so it avoids those things.