Blur or pixelate part of an image

Before you post a photo or share a screenshot, look for details that identify people or places:

• Faces of children, bystanders or people who did not agree to be photographed.
• License plates on cars in the background.
• House numbers, street signs and mailboxes that reveal where you live.
• Documents and screens: names, addresses, account numbers, barcodes and QR codes on tickets, boarding passes, letters and screenshots.
• Badges and name tags at work or school.

Drag a rectangle over the area, and only that part is blurred or pixelated; the rest of the picture stays sharp. To hide several areas, download the result, open it again and repeat.

The Strength slider (2–40) controls how strong the effect is. It scales with the image size, so the same setting looks similar on small and large photos. For text and numbers, use a high strength: at low settings, blurred text can sometimes still be guessed.

For truly sensitive information such as account numbers or ID documents, the safest option is not to show it at all: crop it out with Crop image, or cover it completely. Strong pixelation is effective, but solid covering leaves nothing to reconstruct.

If you do not draw a selection, the entire picture is blurred. That is useful for:

• Backgrounds for slides, websites and phone wallpapers, where a soft image keeps text readable.
• Teaser images that hint at content without showing it.
• Privacy screenshots where nothing needs to stay readable.

Choose Pixelate with no selection for a retro, low-resolution mosaic look.

Blurring happens in your browser on the full-resolution image, so the photo, and whatever sensitive detail it contains, is never uploaded to a server. The output keeps the original format where possible (JPG, PNG, WebP); HEIC and other formats are saved as JPG. The blur is "baked into" the pixels of the new file, so it cannot be removed by someone opening the image.

Remember that photos may also carry hidden data such as GPS location. Run the final image through Remove EXIF data if you are sharing publicly. The re-saved image here already leaves most metadata behind, but a dedicated pass makes sure.

• Make the box a little larger than the face or text, so edges do not show through.
• Use pixelate for small text; blur can leave shapes recognizable.
• Zoom in on the downloaded image to check that nothing is readable before you share it.
• Keep the original in a private folder in case you need it later.
• Screenshots of chats and emails: pixelate names, profile pictures and phone numbers of other people before sharing a conversation.
• Real estate and car listings: blur neighbors' houses, other cars' plates and people walking by.