Processed locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Blur & Pixelate Image
Quick answer
Drag a box over a face, a license plate, or a document number and blur or pixelate it before the image ever leaves your browser, for redaction that is baked into the exported pixels rather than layered on top of them.
What the blur & pixelate image does
This tool does not find anything for you. There is no face detection or plate recognition; you draw one or more rectangles directly over the region you want obscured, and each box gets either a Gaussian blur at a radius you set or a pixelation effect with a block size you set, anywhere in the frame, before you export.
The reason this matters is what happens on export. The blurred or pixelated region is rendered onto the canvas and the whole image is re-encoded from it, so the original pixel values underneath are discarded, not hidden behind a layer. That is different from a black rectangle drawn in a PDF viewer, where the original text often still exists underneath and can be extracted, or from the class of bugs sometimes called the Acropalypse, where a cropped or redacted screenshot on some phones retained the original data past the end of the new, shorter file. Once this tool re-encodes the canvas, the covered pixels genuinely no longer exist in the file.
That said, redaction strength is a real variable. A light blur radius, or a pixelation block only a little larger than the detail underneath, does not destroy the underlying information as completely as it looks like it does. A short PIN, a house number, or a low-resolution plate blurred with a small radius has a small enough space of possibilities that someone motivated could brute-force a reconstruction against the blurred result, and coarse pixelation with a small block size shares that weakness. If what you are hiding is short and predictable in format, use a high blur radius or a large pixelation block, and cover more area than just the digits themselves.
How to use it
Upload the image
Add the photo you need to redact from your device.
Draw a box over each sensitive region
Click and drag directly on the preview to place a rectangle over a face, plate, address, or account number; add as many boxes as you need.
Choose blur or pixelate, and set the strength
Pick a blur radius or a pixelation block size for each box; for anything genuinely sensitive, choose a strong setting rather than a light one.
Export the flattened result
Download the image once you are satisfied; the redaction is rendered into the exported pixels and cannot be undone by reopening the file.
Your images never leave your device
A landlord posting a listing photo that catches a tenant walking past a window, a support ticket screenshot showing part of a credit card number, or a public records request with an unredacted address in the corner are all cases where the redaction itself is the sensitive step. Doing that in a browser tab, with the source photo never touching a server, means the highest-risk moment for that image never involves a network request at all.
- No file is ever uploaded to a server
- Works offline after the first visit
- No account, no watermark, no limits
Format and quality tips
Cover more than the exact outline
A box drawn tightly around a face or a plate leaves edge pixels at the border that can hint at shape or context. Draw the redaction box with a margin around the sensitive detail rather than tracing it exactly.
Match the strength to the stakes
Blurring a background bystander for aesthetic reasons can use a light radius. Redacting an account number, a passport number, or a plate should use a large pixelation block or a heavy blur, since these are exactly the short, structured strings most vulnerable to reconstruction if the redaction is weak.
Frequently asked questions
Can this tool automatically find and blur faces?
No. There is no detection of any kind; you place each box yourself by dragging over the region you want hidden.
Is a blurred region in the exported file actually unrecoverable?
Once exported, yes: the tool renders the effect into the canvas and re-encodes from it, so the original pixels are discarded, unlike a black box drawn over text in some PDF viewers.
Can someone reverse a blur to read what was underneath?
A strong blur or coarse pixelation over a large area is not practically reversible, but a light blur or small block over a short, predictable string like a four-digit code can sometimes be attacked by brute force, so use a stronger setting for anything sensitive.
What is the Acropalypse bug and does it affect this tool?
It refers to a flaw in some phone screenshot editors where a cropped or redacted image kept its original data past the end of the new file. This tool re-encodes the full canvas on export instead, so that failure mode does not apply here.
Should I use blur or pixelation for redaction?
Either can be made effectively irreversible at a strong setting; pixelation reads as an obvious edit, while a heavy blur can look more like an out-of-focus area.
Can I undo a blur box after placing it?
Yes, before export you can remove or resize any box and adjust its strength; nothing is finalized until you download the result.
Further reading
- How to Watermark Photos: A Practical GuideA watermark buys you attribution and friction, not protection. Here is how to place, size and batch one so it actually reads — and an honest look at what metadata credit can and cannot do.6 min read
- How to Blur Faces and Redact Photos ProperlyA blur only protects you if the hidden pixels are gone from the exported file — and if the blur is strong enough that nobody can rebuild what was under it. Here is how to get both right.7 min read
- Favicon Sizes and Formats: A Complete GuideYou need fewer favicon sizes than most generators produce, but the ones you need are specific. Here is what each size is for, the exact HTML and manifest, and why a full logo turns to mush.6 min read