# Blur Image Online – Pixelate or Hide Faces, Plates & Text > Blur image areas for free in your browser. Pixelate, blur or cover faces, license plates and names with a solid bar, then download at full size. Nothing is uploaded. Canonical: https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/blur-image Drag over a face, a license plate or a name to blur, pixelate or cover it with a solid bar, then download the photo at full size. Your photo never leaves your device. This page has a blur and pixelate tool that runs in the browser; use the HTML page to run it. The text below is the guide that goes with it. ## Blur an image in three steps This blur image tool hides the parts of a photo you don't want to share. Choose a photo, drag a box over each face, number plate or name, pick **Pixelate**, **Blur** or **Solid bar**, and download the result. It works with a mouse or a finger, so you can censor a picture on your phone just before you post it. ### 1. Choose a photo Tap **Choose a photo or drop it here**, or drag a JPG, PNG or WebP file onto the box. The photo opens in your browser and is never uploaded. If a file can't be opened (some browsers can't read iPhone HEIC photos, for example), the tool says so; export it as a JPG first. ### 2. Draw the areas to hide Drag on the photo to cover an area. Each one gets a number and appears under **Areas to hide** with its size in pixels, for example "Area 1 · Rectangle · 420 × 380". Remove one with its ✕ button, step back with **Undo**, or start over with **Clear**. The white outlines and numbers only appear in the preview, never in the download. Under **Shape**, choose **Rectangle** for plates, signs and text, or **Ellipse** for a softer cover over a face. ### 3. Pick an effect and download Under **Effect**, choose **Pixelate**, **Blur** or **Solid bar**, then set the strength with **Block size**, **Blur strength** or **Bar color**. The effect applies to every area at once and the preview updates as you go. Pick **JPG** or **PNG** under **Format** and press the download button, which names the exact output size, such as **Download 4032 × 3024 JPG**. ### Blur the whole image Tick **Whole image** to apply the effect to the entire photo instead of drawn areas. A heavy blur or a coarse pixelation of the whole image makes a quick background for a quote card or a teaser for an upcoming reveal. ## Pixelate image areas, blur them or use a solid bar All three effects hide detail. They differ in how they look and how much they hide. | Effect | What it does | Best for | |---|---|---| | Pixelate | Replaces each block of pixels with its average color: the classic mosaic | Faces, bystanders, screens in the background | | Blur | Smears the area so shapes stay but detail goes | Faces and objects when you want a softer look | | Solid bar | Covers the area with one flat color you choose | Names, addresses, plates, phone numbers, any text | ### How to pixelate an image Choose **Pixelate** and set **Block size** between 5 and 60. The size is measured relative to the photo's long side, so the mosaic in the preview looks the same as the full-size download, whether the photo is 1,000 or 6,000 pixels wide. Larger blocks hide more. For a face that fills a good part of the frame, a block size of 20 or more usually hides it well; a tiny face in a crowd needs less. Zoom in on the preview before you download to check. ### Blur strength Choose **Blur** and set **Blur strength** between 2 and 50. Low values soften; high values turn an area into a wash of color. The blur near the photo's edge doesn't fade to transparent, so an area that touches the border still looks clean. ### Why a solid bar is safest for text For names, number plates and other text, **Solid bar** is the safest choice: small text under a light mosaic or blur can sometimes still be guessed, because the rough shapes of letters survive. A flat bar leaves nothing to reconstruct. Pick black, white or a color that matches your post under **Bar color**. ### Overlapping areas stay hidden Each area is applied on top of the photo as it already is, so where two areas overlap, the second one never brings the original back. You can cover a large region with a blur and then add a solid bar over a name inside it. ## Blur faces in a photo before you post Most of what people regret posting isn't the main subject. It's the detail in the corner. Before a photo goes on Instagram, TikTok, X or Facebook, check it for: - **Children's faces**, especially other people's kids at a party, school event or sports day. - **Bystanders** in a street photo, a restaurant or a gym mirror selfie. - **House numbers, street signs and packages** with your address on the label. - **License plates** on your car or the cars around it. - **Screens and documents**: a laptop with an inbox open, a boarding pass, a badge. ### How to blur a face in a photo Choose **Ellipse** under **Shape**, pick **Pixelate** or **Blur**, and drag from just above one side of the head to just below the chin on the other side. Make the area a little larger than the face so hair and ears are covered too. Add one area per face; the list keeps them numbered so you can check you haven't missed anyone. ### How to censor a license plate Choose **Rectangle** and **Solid bar**, then drag over the plate with a small margin. A bar in the plate's own color (white, yellow or black) looks tidier than a mosaic and hides the characters completely. The same goes for a house number or a name on a package. ### Screenshots with names and messages Screenshots of group chats, comments or DMs carry names, profile photos and phone numbers. Cover each with a **Solid bar** rectangle before you share the screenshot. ## Full-size download, and no hidden location data The download is drawn again at the photo's full resolution, not at the size of the preview, so the parts you didn't cover stay as sharp as the original. Photos up to 16 megapixels download at their original size. Larger ones are scaled to just under 16 megapixels, the largest image phone browsers can reliably draw, and a note tells you the exact size before you save. ### EXIF and GPS data are removed The download is a newly drawn image, so EXIF data such as GPS location and camera details is not included. That's a useful side effect: a photo can show nothing private and still carry the coordinates of where it was taken. To check and remove that data without changing anything else in the photo, use the [EXIF remover](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/remove-exif-data). ### JPG or PNG JPG gives smaller files and suits photos. PNG is lossless, so choose it for screenshots; it's preselected when you open a PNG. Everything happens in your browser, with no account and no watermark. Transparent areas are saved on white in a JPG. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I blur part of an image for free? Open the photo in this tool, drag over the part you want to hide, choose Pixelate, Blur or Solid bar and press download. It's free, needs no sign-up and adds no watermark. ### Can a pixelated or blurred image be unblurred? The download contains only the processed pixels, so the original detail isn't in the file. Light effects can still leave enough shape to guess, though, especially with text. Use large blocks or strong blur for faces, and a Solid bar for anything written. ### Can it blur the background of a photo automatically? No. The tool doesn't detect people or separate the subject from the background, so it isn't a portrait-mode effect. You choose what to hide by drawing rectangles or ellipses, or apply the effect to the whole image. ### Does it work on a phone? Yes. Drag with your finger to draw an area. While you're drawing, the photo doesn't scroll the page; tick Whole image if you only need a full-photo effect. ### Will the download be lower quality than my original? No. It's drawn at the original resolution for photos up to 16 megapixels. Larger photos are scaled to just under 16 megapixels, and the tool tells you the size first. ### Does blurring remove the photo's location data? Yes. The saved image is newly drawn, so it has no EXIF data, which means no GPS location, camera model or date taken. ## Post your edited photos on schedule Once a photo is safe to share, Schedule For You can publish it to Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Bluesky, YouTube and Google Business Profile from one queue, with a caption tailored for each platform. It publishes the image exactly as you upload it and doesn't edit it, so blur, crop and add text first: the [photo collage maker](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/photo-collage-maker), [add text to image](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/add-text-to-image) and [aspect ratio calculator](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/aspect-ratio-calculator) help with the rest. Plans start at $19/month. [Start your 7-day free trial](https://scheduleforyou.com/signup). A card is required and you aren't charged until day 8. ## Related - [All free tools](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools) - [Schedule posts with Schedule For You](https://scheduleforyou.com/)