A method for removal of punched hole artifacts in digital images includes, for a scanned document page, deriving an original digital image that defines the page in terms of a plurality of input pixels. A reduced resolution bitonal image is generated from the original image. The method further includes providing for identifying of candidate punched hole artifacts in the reduced resolution bitonal image and providing for testing the candidate punched hole artifacts for at least one of shape, size, and location. Where a candidate punched hole artifact meets the at least one test, the method includes generating a modified image. This includes erasing the candidate punched hole artifact from the original digital image.