Blur or Pixelate Part of an Image
Drag a box over a face, a licence plate, an address or a screenshot and hide it. The image is processed in your browser and never uploaded.
What to Hide Before You Post
People remember faces and forget everything else in the frame. These are the things that actually identify a place or a person.
| In the photo | What it gives away | Best method |
|---|---|---|
| Faces of other people | Their identity, without their consent | Heavy pixelate or a solid block |
| Licence plates | A registered address, via a lookup | Solid block, always |
| House numbers and street signs | Your exact address | Solid block |
| Screens and monitors | Emails, names, account numbers, open tabs | Solid block |
| Delivery labels and post | Full name and address, tracking numbers | Solid block |
| Documents and cards | Account and document numbers | Solid block, and crop as well |
| Children's school uniforms | The school, therefore the neighbourhood | Block the crest and any name tag |
Blur Is Not Always Enough
This is the part most guides leave out, and it matters.
- Light blur can be reversed. A mild Gaussian blur is a mathematical operation, and there are well known techniques for partially undoing it. Use a strong setting.
- Coarse pixelation can be brute forced on known text. If someone knows the format, for example a six digit code or a licence plate, they can render every possible value, pixelate each one, and compare. This has been demonstrated repeatedly on redacted screenshots.
- Swirls and twirls are reversible. They are a reordering of pixels, not a removal of information.
One more thing worth checking: the file itself. A photo you blur may still carry GPS coordinates in its metadata pointing at exactly where it was taken. Run it through the EXIF viewer and strip it.
Doing It in GIMP
- Select the area with the Rectangle Select or Ellipse Select tool.
- For a blur, use Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur with a large radius.
- For pixelation, use Filters > Blur > Pixelise and set a big block size.
- For a permanent block, set the foreground colour and press Edit > Fill with FG Color.
- Flatten the image before exporting, so the redaction is not sitting on a separate layer someone could hide.
Common Questions
Can it find faces automatically?
No, and that is deliberate. Automatic face detection misses faces at an angle, in profile, or partly hidden, and a missed face is worse than no tool at all. Drawing the boxes yourself means you see exactly what is covered.
Can I hide a circular area?
Rectangles only here. For a circle or a freehand shape, use the selection tools in GIMP.
Does the download still contain the original pixels?
No. The canvas is flattened when it exports, so the hidden areas are genuinely replaced in the downloaded file.
What if the area I need to hide is moving through a video?
That is beyond an image tool. Video redaction needs software that tracks the region across frames.