Pixelate & Censor Image

It is worth being precise about what pixelation actually protects. Because the operation is deterministic and the block averages are visible, researchers have repeatedly shown that lightly pixelated text and digits can be recovered by rendering candidate strings, pixelating them the same way, and matching the result. That attack needs a small block size and a constrained alphabet, which is exactly the situation with number plates, phone numbers and account digits. Use a large block relative to the text, or use blackout, which discards the information rather than transforming it. Also remember to strip metadata separately — pixelating a face does nothing about the GPS coordinates stored in the file.

Pixelation divides the region into blocks, averages the red, green, blue and alpha values within each block, then writes that flat colour back across every pixel of the block. Blackout simply fills the region with a solid colour.

Region selection is by numeric coordinates rather than by dragging on the image, so you may need to check the pixel position in another viewer first. More importantly, pixelation and blurring are not guaranteed irreversible: with a small block size, software can sometimes recover text or digits by testing candidates against the averaged output. Blackout is the only method here that removes the information entirely.

A 200 × 100 region pixelated with a 20-pixel block becomes 50 flat squares, each the average colour of the 400 pixels it replaced. The original detail in that area no longer exists in the file.

1. Choose your image.
2. Pick a method — blackout if the content is genuinely sensitive.
3. Enter the region coordinates, or tick to apply to the whole image.
4. Increase the block size until no detail remains, then download.

• Using a small block size on text or digits, which can be reversed.
• Drawing a black box in an editor over a layer that still contains the data.
• Forgetting that EXIF metadata may still reveal location.
• Censoring a low-resolution copy while the original stays shared elsewhere.

This tool obscures part of an image — or all of it — by pixelating, blurring or blacking it out. Pixelation averages each block of pixels and overwrites the originals, so the detail is genuinely destroyed rather than covered by an overlay.

Anyone sharing a screenshot or photo that contains a face, number plate, address or account details.

• Overwrites the original pixels rather than layering something on top.
• Three methods, including blackout which removes the information completely.
• Works on a specific region or the whole image.
• Sensitive images never leave your device.

• Hiding a face before posting a photo publicly.
• Obscuring a number plate in a car listing.
• Redacting an account number in a screenshot.
• Blurring bystanders in a photograph.