Pixelating replaces part of a picture with big square blocks of colour. It is the classic way to hide a face on the news or a logo in a clip, and it tells the viewer at a glance that something was hidden on purpose.
This page opens Blur image with the Effect set to Pixelate, so you can pixelate an image as soon as it opens. Draw boxes over what to hide and drag Strength for bigger blocks, or pixelate the whole picture for a mosaic effect. It is free and runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded. Read on for how the block size works, where pixelation suits, and where it is not enough.
How to pixelate a picture
- Press Select image, or drop a picture onto the page. One picture is worked on at a time.
- A box sits in the middle of the picture. Drag it over the face, name or logo, and drag a corner to fit it.
- Add more boxes by dragging on an empty part of the picture, by double-clicking, or with Add a box.
- Drag Strength for bigger or smaller blocks. It starts at 60.
- Press Blur and save. The file name ends in _pixelated.
The button says Blur because this is the Blur image tool; with Pixelate chosen, the saved picture is pixelated, exactly as the stage shows it. Hold to compare shows the original while you press it, so you can check that the box covers everything it should.
Boxes move by dragging or with the arrow keys once focused (Shift moves them ten pixels at a time), and Delete removes the focused one. Each box is listed in the panel with its size in pixels, with a × to remove it.
How big the pixel blocks are
Block size follows the picture, so the same Strength looks alike on a small picture and a large one. At Strength 100 each block is 6 % of the picture's shorter side; at 50 it is 3 %. Blocks are never smaller than 2 pixels. Each block is filled with the average colour of the pixels under it.
| Shorter side | Strength 30 | Strength 60 | Strength 100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 px | 7 px | 14 px | 24 px |
| 1080 px | 19 px | 39 px | 65 px |
| 3000 px | 54 px | 108 px | 180 px |
Bigger pixel blocks hide more. Smaller ones keep the outline, so a face pixelated at low strength can still be recognised by someone who knows it. For a face, aim for blocks big enough that the eyes, nose and mouth fall into just a few of them.
What counts as big depends on the subject. On a screenshot, the writing is small compared with the whole picture, so a modest Strength can already turn a line of text into a row of blocks. On a close-up portrait, the face fills most of the frame, and you may need a Strength of 80 or more before it stops looking like a face.
Pixelate a face, a logo or the whole picture
- To pixelate a face, pick Ellipse under Shape for a rounder cover, and give the box a little room around the hair and chin.
- For several faces, draw a box over each, up to 50 per picture. Shape and Strength apply to all of them.
- For a logo or a brand name on a shirt or a sign, a rectangle at Strength 60 or more turns it into a few blocks of its colours.
- To pixelate an image all over, switch Blur at the top of the panel from Parts of it to The whole picture. At low Strength the result is a fine mosaic image of small squares; at high Strength only the broad colours remain.
- A screenshot opens like any other picture. Raise the Strength over names and messages, or use Solid for anything private, and keep it as PNG so the rest of the screen stays crisp.
A whole-picture mosaic makes an unusual cover or background, and a strongly pixelated photo can stand in as a placeholder while a page is being built. It is a mosaic of flat squares, though: it does not build a picture out of many small photos. If only one area of the picture belongs in the result, cut it out first with Crop image, then pixelate it here.
Censor an image safely: when pixelating is not enough
To censor an image safely, match the cover to what is under it: pixel blocks suit a stranger's face in the background, but not a password. Pixelation hides detail by averaging it, but the averages still carry a trace of what was underneath. On text, that trace can sometimes be used to guess the words back, especially with large writing, small blocks and short, known patterns such as card numbers or codes.
So when you censor a photo for anything that must stay hidden, such as passwords, numbers, addresses or faces, choose Solid instead. It fills the box with one flat colour (Ink, Black, White or any colour you pick) and keeps nothing of what was there. The panel shows the same warning under the effect.
| Effect | Good for | Safe for secrets |
|---|---|---|
| Pixelate | Faces, logos, details | Not always |
| Blur | Faces, backgrounds | Not always |
| Solid | Anything under the box | Yes |
Save the pixelated picture
Save as Original keeps a JPG as a JPG and a PNG as a PNG; an iPhone HEIC photo becomes a JPG and a GIF, BMP or TIFF becomes a PNG. PNG keeps the edges of the blocks perfectly crisp. JPG and WebP are saved again at high quality, which can soften those edges very slightly.
- It runs in your browser. The picture is never uploaded, so what you hide never leaves your device.
- It is free, with no account and no watermark. Image tools are not counted in the free daily limit, which applies to document conversions only.
- The saved picture is drawn fresh, so it carries no location, camera or date details.
- It works in current Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Very large pictures may be too big for your browser.
Want a different look instead of hiding something? Make a black and white photo, or invert photo colours for a negative.
Hide it behind blocks now
Open a picture above, draw a box over each part to hide, and drag Strength until the blocks are big enough. That is all it takes to pixelate an image; for secrets, switch the Effect to Solid.
It is free and private. If a photo is too dark to see what needs covering, lift it with brighten image first; if it faces the wrong way, flip photo mirrors it. Both run in your browser too.
