HelperCrateBlur / Pixelate Zone
Multi-zone redaction with pixelate, blur or solid black, plus face/text suggestions.
Your files never leave your device. Everything runs in your browser.
What Blur / Pixelate Zone does
Blur / Pixelate Zone redacts parts of a picture before you share it. Draw over number plates, addresses, faces, screens or document fields, choose an effect, and export a copy that no longer shows the sensitive detail. It is the tool for preparing screenshots for support tickets, hiding personal data in photos you post publicly, and cleaning up images before they go into documents.
Three redaction effects are available: pixelate (mosaic), Gaussian blur and solid black. Security guidance matters here — light blur can sometimes be reversed with software, while pixelation and solid fills are much safer. The tool warns you about this and keeps the choice in your hands.
Drawing tools include a rectangular marquee, an ellipse and a freehand brush, with keyboard shortcuts for each. Zones are listed individually so you can select, review and delete them, and the export is a flattened copy with metadata removed.
How to use Blur / Pixelate Zone
- Drop the image onto the page or click the dropzone to browse.
- Pick a tool: Select, Pan, Rect, Ellipse or Brush, or press V, H, R, E or B.
- Draw over the area to hide. For the brush, set the brush size first; for shapes, drag a box or ellipse and adjust it if needed.
- Choose the effect — Pixelate, Gaussian blur or Solid black — and tune the intensity until the detail is unreadable.
- Zoom and pan to check the edges of each zone. Add more zones as needed; select a zone in the list to remove or redo it, and use undo/redo freely.
- On supported browsers, use Detect faces or Detect text for suggested zones, then add the ones you want.
- Pick the output format (PNG, JPEG or WebP), then click Download redacted image.
Features
- Three redaction effects: pixelate, Gaussian blur and solid black, with adjustable intensity.
- Rectangular, elliptical and freehand brush zones, each with keyboard shortcuts.
- An experimental Detect faces / Detect text helper that uses the browser's built-in detection APIs where available.
- Zone list with selection, deletion, undo and redo for precise control.
- Zoom, pan and a full-screen working view for checking zone edges.
- Exports are re-encoded with metadata stripped, in PNG, JPEG or WebP at a chosen quality.
Tips and common mistakes
- Zoom in before placing zones; a small gap at the edge of a blurred area can reveal what you were hiding.
- Use solid black for the highest sensitivity cases and pixelate when you want the image to still look natural.
- Save the redacted copy under a new name and keep the original untouched, in case you need the unredacted version later.
Frequently asked questions
Which effect is safest for hiding personal information?
Solid black or a high-intensity pixelate. Light Gaussian blur can be partially reversed with modern image processing, so use blur only when readability matters more than security. The tool's own warning recommends pixelate or solid fills for genuinely sensitive content.
Is the redaction permanent?
The exported file is a new flattened image, so yes — the hidden pixels are gone from the download. Zones are drawn as masks on top of the working image in this tool; editing them again after export is not possible, but the original on your device is unchanged.
Why does Detect faces or Detect text say unavailable?
Those helpers rely on browser detection APIs (for example the Shape Detection API), which are not implemented in every browser. When they are unavailable, draw the zones manually — it takes only a moment for a few faces or text lines.
Can I redact several images in one go?
This tool edits one image at a time because zone placement is visual. For repeated redaction at the same spot across many images, process them one at a time; for other changes such as resizing many files, use the batch tools like Image Resizer.
Does the exported file keep EXIF data?
No — exports are re-encoded and metadata such as camera model and GPS location is stripped. That is deliberate: a redacted image should not leak location data through its metadata.
Related image tools: Image Compressor, Image Converter, Image Resizer.
Redaction runs entirely in your browser, and the exported copy has its metadata stripped. Your image never leaves your device.