An image processing apparatus which corrects image data containing an image of a foreign substance, and outputs the corrected image data that has undergone correction as a visible image includes an image pixel count acquisition unit which acquires the number of pixels of the image, an output resolution acquisition unit which acquires information about the resolution of the image to be output to the output device, a foreign substance correction level setting unit which sets the degree of foreign substance correction on the basis of at least the number of pixels acquired by the image pixel count acquisition unit and the information about the resolution acquired by the output resolution acquisition unit, and a foreign substance correction unit which corrects the image of the foreign substance contained in the image data on the basis of the foreign substance correction level set by the foreign substance correction level setting unit.