Blur and Redact an Image
Draw over what needs hiding. The pixels are destroyed rather than covered, so nothing can be recovered from the file.
In short
To redact an image properly the pixels must be destroyed, not covered. Drawing a black rectangle in a document or PDF often leaves the original data underneath and recoverable. This redraws the image with the selected areas blurred or filled, so the removed content no longer exists in the file.
Last reviewed
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type here is uploaded, stored or logged.
Why a black rectangle isn't redaction
This is the single most important thing on this page. In a Word document, a PDF or a slide deck, drawing a black box over text places an object on top. The text underneath is still in the file.
Select and copy the region, open the file in a different reader, or extract its text layer, and the "redacted" content comes straight back. It has happened repeatedly with court filings, government reports and corporate disclosures, including cases where the names of protected witnesses were recovered in minutes.
Real redaction removes the information. This tool redraws the image with those pixels replaced, then re-encodes it. There is no layer to peel back because there is no layer.
Solid block, blur or pixelate
Solid block is the only one that removes the information completely. Use it for anything that genuinely matters: account numbers, addresses, names, signatures, licence plates, medical details.
Blur keeps the shape and colour, which looks softer and preserves the composition of a photo. Heavy blur is irreversible in practice. Light blur is not. The underlying data is still partly present, and reversing a weak blur is a solved problem.
Pixelation is the riskiest of the three and the most commonly used, which is an unfortunate combination. Pixelated text has been recovered by brute force: an attacker who knows the font can render every plausible string, pixelate each one the same way, and find the match. Never pixelate anything from a limited set, card numbers, dates of birth, postcodes, licence plates.
The rule worth remembering: blur a face, block a number.
What people forget to cover
Redacting the obvious thing and missing the rest is the usual failure. Before you share a screenshot, look for:
- Browser tabs and the address bar: a URL can contain a session token, an account ID or an internal hostname.
- Notification banners that arrived while you were capturing.
- The taskbar or dock: application names reveal a lot about your employer and setup.
- Autocomplete dropdowns showing previous entries.
- Reflections in glasses, screens and windows.
- Email signatures, letterheads and reference numbers further down the page.
- Partially visible text behind a window you thought was covering it.
Metadata goes too
Redrawing on a canvas discards all EXIF data as a side effect, GPS coordinates, device model, timestamps. That's a useful bonus, since a carefully redacted photo that still announces where it was taken hasn't achieved much.
If you want to see what was in there first, the EXIF viewer will show you.
Check the result before sending
Download the file, open it, and zoom in on each redacted area. Two things worth confirming: that every area you intended to cover actually is, and that nothing legible survives at the edges of a box drawn slightly too small.
For anything with legal or safety consequences, have a second person look at it. You know what you meant to hide, which makes you the worst possible person to spot what you missed.
Frequently asked questions
Is the hidden content really gone?
Yes. The image is redrawn with the selected areas replaced or blurred, then re-encoded. The original pixels do not exist in the output file. There is no layer to remove and nothing to recover. That is different from drawing a black box in a document, where the text underneath usually survives.
Why not just draw a black rectangle in Word or a PDF?
Because in those formats the rectangle is an object placed on top and the content beneath it remains in the file. Selecting and copying, or opening the file in another tool, frequently recovers it. Several governments and law firms have leaked documents exactly this way.
Is blur safe enough, or should I use a solid box?
Use a solid box for anything that matters. Heavy blur is generally irreversible in practice, but weak blur and pixelation have both been reversed. Pixelated text in particular can sometimes be recovered by brute force, since there are only so many possibilities. A solid fill removes the information entirely.
Does it remove the photo's metadata too?
Yes, as a side effect. Redrawing on a canvas discards EXIF, including GPS coordinates and device details. Use the EXIF viewer first if you want to see what was in there.
Is the image uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything happens in your browser. Given the whole point is hiding sensitive information, sending the un-redacted original to a server would be a strange way to start.