Inpainting and Outpainting Explained Simply: Editing Part of an Image Without Regenerating It All

Imagine you got a great image, but the hand is distorted, or you want to extend the background to fit a specific size. The solution isn't regenerating the whole image from scratch and hoping for a better result by chance — it's editing just the part you need. That's exactly what Inpainting and Outpainting do.

Inpainting: Fixing or Changing a Part Inside the Image

Inpainting means selecting a specific area inside the image (by painting over it with a selection brush) and asking to regenerate just that area based on a new description you write, while the rest of the image stays completely unchanged. It's typically used to fix an error (a distorted hand, an unclear face), or to change an entire element (swapping a blue shirt for a red one, or removing a person from the background).

Outpainting: Extending the Image Beyond Its Original Borders

Outpainting works the opposite way: instead of editing something inside the image, you ask the tool to "imagine" and generate what could exist beyond the original image's borders, based on the content that's actually visible. It's often used to turn a square image into a horizontal or vertical size without cropping any of the original content, or to extend a room's background to show more of the space.

Practical Examples for Each Case

Use Inpainting when: you want to fix a distorted hand or face • you want to remove a distracting element (a person, a stray shadow, a background object) • you want to change a specific color or detail without touching the rest of the image. Use Outpainting when: you want to resize an existing image for a different platform • you want to add empty space around the main subject for text later • you want to extend a scene to show more of the surrounding area.

Where to Find These Two Tools

Inpainting and Outpainting are built into nearly all modern image generation tools: Adobe Firefly (as part of Photoshop's Generative Fill), DALL-E and GPT Image inside ChatGPT, Midjourney via its Vary Region and Zoom Out features, and Stable Diffusion through interfaces like Automatic1111 or ComfyUI for advanced users.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Inpainting and Outpainting be used together on the same image?

Yes, and this is actually common: you fix an error inside the image with Inpainting first, then extend its borders with Outpainting to the required size — or the reverse, depending on what you need.

Why do the edges of an edited area sometimes look unnatural?

This usually happens when the selected area is very small or has very sharp edges. Widening the selection slightly around the target element gives the model more room to blend the result smoothly with its surroundings.

Conclusion

You don't need to regenerate an entire image every time a small error shows up or you need a different size. Inpainting edits what's inside the image, Outpainting extends what's beyond its borders, and both save you time and give more precise control than random regeneration ever could.