Image redaction tool — black out, pixelate or blur, in your browser
Cover parts of an image with a solid block, pixelation or blur, edit the regions until they are right, then export at full resolution. Your image is processed locally in your browser and is not uploaded to ToolsNow.
Runs in your browser — your input is not uploaded to ToolsNow.
Your files are processed locally in your browser and are not uploaded to ToolsNow.
Your image is processed locally in your browser and is not uploaded to ToolsNow. Only a solid block reliably removes information. Pixelation averages the original pixels and blur smears them, so in both cases the underlying data is still present in a transformed form. Published research has shown that pixelated and blurred text can sometimes be recovered — by matching against candidate renderings, or by exploiting a known font and layout. For anything that matters — names, addresses, account numbers, faces you must not identify — use a solid block. The exported file is flattened — the regions are painted into the pixels and there are no layers to peel back — and because it is re-encoded from a canvas it carries none of the original file's metadata, including EXIF, GPS coordinates and camera details. That is not the same as anonymity: the visible content, the image dimensions, and anything recognisable in the parts you did not cover all remain. Images up to 50 megapixels (about 8000 × 6000). Larger files are refused rather than risking the tab being closed by the browser.
How to use
- Add an image. Drop a file, choose one, or press Ctrl/Cmd-V to paste a screenshot straight in.
- Choose a treatment. Solid block for anything that matters. Pixelation and blur are available, with the caveats set out below.
- Draw over what you want covered. Drag a rectangle, or switch to freehand for irregular shapes. Shift-drag pans; the zoom slider gets you closer.
- Adjust the regions. Click a rectangle to select and move it, press Delete to remove it, or use the region list to nudge, resize and delete without a mouse.
- Check it against the original. Hold “Compare with original” to flip back and forth and confirm nothing is left showing.
- Export. PNG keeps transparency and quality; JPEG is smaller; WebP is a middle ground. The file is written at the image’s full resolution.
Questions
Is blurring or pixelating safe for hiding text?
No, and this is the most important thing on the page. Both transform the original pixels rather than discarding them, so information survives in a recoverable form. Pixelation averages blocks, and if the attacker knows the font and layout they can render candidate text, pixelate it the same way and compare — an approach that has been demonstrated against redacted documents. Blur is weaker still. For names, addresses, account numbers, licence plates or faces that must not be identified, use a solid block.
Can the redaction be undone from the exported file?
Not from the exported image. The regions are painted into the pixels and the file is flattened — there are no layers, no separate objects and nothing to toggle off. That is the difference between this and drawing a black box in a PDF or a document editor, where the original content often remains underneath and is trivially recovered.
Does exporting remove the metadata too?
Yes, as a side effect of how the export works: the image is redrawn onto a canvas and re-encoded, and none of the original file’s metadata survives that. EXIF, GPS coordinates, camera model and timestamps are all gone. It does not make the image anonymous — the visible content is still the visible content — but it does close a common leak.
Why does my exported JPEG have a white background?
JPEG has no alpha channel, so transparency has to become something. This tool fills it with white rather than the black most encoders default to. If you need the transparency preserved, export PNG or WebP.
Does the export match the preview exactly?
Yes. The preview and the export share the same rendering code, and the region coordinates and effect sizes are scaled with the image, so a blur that looks right on a preview of a large photo is the same strength in the exported file. Getting that scaling wrong is a common bug in this kind of tool and produces an export noticeably weaker than what was approved.
Can I use this on a phone?
Yes. Drawing works with touch, and every region can also be moved, resized and deleted from the list below the canvas, which is usually easier on a small screen than dragging.
What are the limits?
Images up to 50 megapixels. The whole image is decoded into memory, which costs four bytes per pixel regardless of how well the file compressed, so very large files are refused rather than risking the tab being closed by the browser.