Skip to main content
pixelate.video

Free · runs in your browser

Blur an image or part of a photo

Soften the whole picture, or only the details you don’t want shared. Draw boxes or paint with a brush; the photo stays on your device the whole time.

A photo of sticky notes on a whiteboard, the names on them painted over with a soft blur

Drop a photo to pixelate or blur

Or pick one from your computer. JPEG, PNG, WebP and iPhone HEIC. Videos work too.Pick the picture from your photos or files.

Works with JPEGPNGWebPHEICand more

Faces are found and blurred on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

To blur an image online, open it in the editor above and choose The whole photo to soften everything, or Part of the photo to blur only what you mark. Look starts on Blur here; drag Blur strength until the detail is gone, then press Export photo. The blurring runs in your browser, so the picture is never uploaded.

Most people searching for a photo blur want to hide something specific: a stranger’s face, a child’s school logo, a registration plate, an address on a parcel or a notification on a screenshot. Boxes and ovals handle neat shapes, and the brush handles everything else.

How to blur an image

  1. Add your photo

    Drop the image onto the box above or choose it from your device. JPEG, PNG, WebP and iPhone HEIC all work.

  2. Mark what to blur

    Choose The whole photo, or Part of the photo and drag a box. Switch Draw with to Brush to paint over an irregular area, or pick Faces to have every face found for you.

  3. Set the strength

    Drag Blur strength until the area is unreadable at full size, not just in the preview. 24 px or more suits faces and text.

  4. Save the blurred copy

    Press Export photo, then Download photo. Your original file is left as it was.

Blur only part of the photo

Choose Part of the photo and drag on the picture to draw a box over the area you want hidden. The box can be moved by dragging and resized from its corners, or nudged with the arrow keys (Alt with an arrow resizes it). Select it and set Shape to Oval for a face or a round logo.

For something that is neither a box nor an oval, set Draw with to Brush, choose a Brush size and paint over it. Each stroke becomes its own area, named Brush 1, Brush 2 and so on, which you can select, move or delete. The guide to blurring part of an image goes into brush work in more detail.

Blur the background behind a subject

This editor has no AI cut-out, so it will not trace the outline of a person the way portrait mode on a phone does. What it can do is the reverse of a normal blur: put a box or oval over the person you want to keep, open More options and turn on Blur everything except the boxes. Everything outside the boxes is blurred and the person stays sharp.

The edge of the sharp area follows your box or oval, not the person’s hair or shoulders, so this works best when the subject is reasonably separate from the background. For a true depth effect, a phone’s portrait mode or a desktop editor with subject selection will do better.

Blur faces, names and screens

Choose Faces to have every face in the picture found and covered with an oval. Look over the result; small, side-on and partly hidden faces can be missed, and you can drag a box over any that were. There is a full walkthrough on blurring faces in a photo.

Names and numbers need more care than faces. Letters come from a small alphabet, so a light blur over a short word can still be guessed. For anything written, raise Blur strength well past the point where it looks unreadable, or select that area and set Look for this area to Black.

How strong should the blur be?

Blur strength is measured in pixels of the original photo, so the same setting looks the same whatever size you save at. A light setting of 6 to 10 px softens skin, a texture or a busy background. Faces of people who did not agree to be photographed need something closer to 24 px. Text and numbers need the top of the range.

Check at full size before you share. The preview is scaled down to fit your screen, and a blur that looks thorough on a phone can leave a recognisable outline when the photo is opened on a large monitor. If in doubt, go stronger, or switch to Pixelate, which keeps less of the original shape.

Questions about this kind of blur

How do I blur part of a picture?

Choose Part of the photo, then drag a box over the area, or switch Draw with to Brush and paint over it. Press Export photo when it looks right.

Can a blurred photo be unblurred?

A strong blur throws away detail that cannot be rebuilt, but a light one can leave enough for a face or a word to be recognised or guessed. Use a high Blur strength for anything sensitive, or a black box.

How do I blur a photo on iPhone?

Open this page in Safari, tap Choose photo, mark what to blur and tap Export photo. The iPhone guide also explains what the Photos app can do on its own.

Will it blur the background like portrait mode?

Not automatically. Put a box or oval over the subject and turn on Blur everything except the boxes under More options. The sharp area follows your shape rather than the outline of the person.

What image formats can I blur?

JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF and iPhone HEIC (converted on your device outside Safari), plus TIFF and the preview inside camera RAW files. You can save as JPEG, PNG or, where the browser supports it, WebP.

Is the image uploaded to a server?

No. The photo is read, blurred and saved by your browser. The saved copy also leaves out the camera, date and location details the original may carry.