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Blur license plate in video

Cover a license plate with blur, pixelation or a black box, and let the box follow the car. Made for dashcam and car videos. Free and private.

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Drop one here or choose one from your device.

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  1. 1Choose video
  2. 2Pixelate
  3. 3Download

Dashcam clips, car reviews, street footage and accident videos often show license plates you would rather not publish. Blurring them takes a box and a minute: draw it over the plate, let the tool track the plate as it moves, and export.

Plates are not detected automatically, so you choose which ones to hide. Tracking then does the frame-by-frame work for you, and everything runs in your browser, so the footage is never uploaded.

How to blur a license plate in a video

  1. Open the clip

    Drop your dashcam or phone video into the tool above. Long recordings are quicker to work with if you trim them first with the scissors under the preview.

  2. Box the plate

    Choose Chosen areas, pause where the plate is clear, and drag a box over it with a little margin. Pick Black box, or Pixelate or Blur at a high strength.

  3. Track it

    With the box selected, select Track movement automatically. The box follows the plate forwards and backwards from that moment.

  4. Check and export

    Scrub through. If tracking stopped early, move the box back onto the plate and select Track again from here. Then select Export video.

Tracking a plate that moves

When the camera or the car moves, a fixed box will not stay on the plate. Track movement automatically follows whatever is inside the box by matching how it looks from frame to frame, at up to 12 positions a second. It copes with the plate growing or shrinking as a car approaches or pulls away.

It stops when the plate is lost: when it leaves the frame, is hidden behind another vehicle, or smears in fast motion. The tool shows the time it lost it. Go there, move the box back onto the plate and select Track again from here; positions outside the new run are kept. Tracking stays within the box's start and end times, so set those first if the plate is only visible for part of the clip.

You can also place the box by hand. Turn on Follow movement, pause at a few moments and drag the box onto the plate each time. It glides in a straight line between those positions, which suits slow, steady movement.

Blur, pixelate or black box for license plates

Plate characters are large, high-contrast and drawn from a small set of letters and numbers, which makes them easier to guess through a light blur than a face. A solid black box is the safest choice. If you prefer the look of blur or pixelation, raise the strength until individual characters disappear at full screen.

Make the box slightly bigger than the plate, so the edges stay covered while the car moves.

Dashcam footage: what to blur before you upload

Before posting dashcam footage to YouTube, social media or a forum, people commonly blur:

Faces can be found automatically: see how to blur faces in a video. An overlay in a fixed corner needs just one box with no tracking.

If the clip is evidence for the police or an insurer, give them the original, unblurred file and blur only the copy you publish. Rules on publishing plates differ by country, and this is not legal advice.

Questions about this kind of blur

How do I blur out a license plate in a video?

Choose Chosen areas, drag a box over the plate and pick Black box or a strong Blur. Then select Track movement automatically so the box follows the plate. Check the result and select Export video.

Can it find license plates automatically?

No. Only faces are found automatically. You draw a box over each plate once, and tracking follows it from there.

Can I blur several plates in the same clip?

Yes. Add an area for each plate and track each one separately. Each area has its own start and end time, so a passing car's plate only needs covering while it is on screen.

Tracking lost the plate. What now?

That happens when the plate leaves the frame, is blocked, or smears in fast motion. Go to the time shown, move the box back onto the plate and select Track again from here. Or turn on Follow movement and place the box by hand for that stretch.

Should I blur number plates in UK dashcam videos?

There is no single rule. Many people blur them to avoid identifying other drivers, and some platforms and forums ask for it. If you are unsure, blur them. This is not legal advice.

Will blurring lower the quality of my dashcam video?

Only the boxes change; the rest of the picture is re-encoded to stay close to the original. Dashcam files are often long, so trimming to the moment that matters makes exporting much faster.

Is my dashcam footage uploaded anywhere?

No. Opening, tracking and exporting all happen in your browser. That matters for footage of an incident you may still need for a claim.

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