Pixelate Image
Pixelate an entire photo or censor just a selected area, entirely in your browser. Add an image, set the mosaic block size, draw a box over a face, ID number, or license plate to hide only that part, and download the result. The picture is drawn to a local canvas and is never uploaded, so the private details you are hiding never reach a server.
Drop an image here
or choose a file
🔒 Pixelated on your device with a canvas. Never uploaded.
The whole image will be pixelated. Switch to “Selected areas” to censor only specific spots.
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What is the Pixelate Image tool?
The Pixelate Image tool is a free, browser-based censor that replaces the fine detail in a picture with chunky mosaic squares. You can pixelate the whole image for an anonymous, low-resolution look, or you can draw one or more boxes to mosaic only specific regions — a face, an ID number, a license plate, a street sign, an address on an envelope — while leaving the rest of the photo sharp. Everything runs on your own device using the HTML canvas, so nothing is uploaded, stored, or logged.
How to use it
- Add an image — tap or click the drop zone to choose a file, or drag and drop one onto it.
- Choose how much of the image to censor. Leave it on whole-image mode for a full mosaic, or switch to “Selected areas” and drag across the part you want to hide.
- Adjust the block size slider. Bigger blocks mean larger mosaic squares and a heavier, more anonymous censor.
- Add more boxes if you need to redact several spots; each box can be moved or resized with its corner handles.
- Tap Apply & download to render the mosaic and save the censored image. The original file on your computer is untouched.
How pixelation works
Pixelation is an averaging operation, not a blur. The tool reads the raw pixels of the selected region from the canvas, divides that region into a grid of square tiles whose side equals your chosen block size, and for each tile it computes the average colour of the pixels inside it. It then paints every pixel in that tile with that single average colour. The result is a grid of flat-coloured squares that throws away the fine structure that made text legible or a face recognizable. Because the detail is averaged out and discarded, a pixelated export cannot be sharpened back into the original, which is exactly why pixelation is preferred over a soft blur when you are hiding sensitive information.
Selective region redaction
Selective redaction is the core feature. Instead of flattening the whole picture, you draw a rectangle over each thing you want to hide. The tool converts that on-screen box into the image's true pixel coordinates so the mosaic lands precisely even when the preview is shrunk on a small phone screen, then pixelates only the pixels inside the box. You can stack several boxes to cover a face and a name badge in the same shot. The pixels outside your boxes are never modified, so the photo stays useful while the private parts are permanently obscured.
Common use cases
People use this to censor screenshots before posting them: hiding a real name, email address, account balance, or order number in a support ticket or a tutorial. It is used to redact ID and document scans, such as passport numbers, national ID digits, and bank details, without sending the file to a third-party server. Photographers and journalists pixelate faces and license plates to protect bystanders. Sellers blur the address label on a parcel photo before sharing a shipping update. Anyone preparing an example image for a blog post or slide deck can mosaic the confidential bits in seconds.
Why use this one
Most online pixelators upload your file before they let you edit it, which defeats the purpose when the whole reason you are censoring something is privacy. This one never uploads: the image is loaded into a canvas in your browser and the mosaic is applied locally. It is also one of the few free tools that lets you redact just a selected region instead of forcing a full-image effect, so you can hide one ID number and keep the rest of the photo crisp. The selection boxes are built touch-first for one-finger use on a phone, the block size is fully adjustable, the export keeps the full source resolution, and there is no watermark and no sign-up.
It is part of a small image toolkit. To trim a picture down to one area, use the Image Cropper; to change its pixel dimensions, use the Image Resizer; and to shrink its file size, try the Image Compressor.
Frequently asked questions
Is my image uploaded when I pixelate it?
No. The image is drawn into a canvas inside your browser and pixelated entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or logged, so private screenshots, ID scans, and personal photos stay with you.
Can I pixelate only one part of the image instead of the whole thing?
Yes. Drag to draw a box over the area you want to censor — a face, an ID number, a license plate, an address — and only that region is mosaicked while the rest of the picture stays sharp. You can add several boxes to redact multiple spots.
Can the pixelation be reversed to recover the original?
No. Pixelation replaces each block of pixels with a single averaged colour, so the original detail is permanently discarded in the exported file. That is what makes it safe for hiding sensitive information, unlike a simple blur which can sometimes be partially undone.
How do I control how strong the mosaic looks?
Use the block size slider. A larger block size means bigger mosaic squares and a heavier, more anonymous censor; a smaller block size keeps more shape while still obscuring detail.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. The tool is touch-first: tap to add an image, drag with one finger to draw or move a redaction box, and use the corner handles to resize. The layout is single-hand friendly on small screens.