Blur Image
Cover the parts of a photo you want to hide with a mosaic, blur or black box. Files never leave your device.
No upload · Processed in your browserJPG · PNG · WebP · AVIF25 MB per file (recommended)As of 2026.10.01
How to use Blur Image
- 1Drag and drop one photo or pick it with [Choose files]. The photo appears in the edit preview
- 2Drag on the photo to draw an area to hide, or press [Add area]. Choose an effect and strength, then press [Start]
- 3Save with [Download]. Before you share it, zoom in on the result to make sure the hidden parts can't be read
The big number on the result card is the result’s resolution, which stays the same as the original. Each result keeps the original name with -blurred added, as in photo-blurred.jpg.
You can process one photo at a time and draw up to 50 areas to hide. We recommend up to 25 MB and 40MP on desktop, and 10 MB and 16MP on mobile. Going over the recommendation shows a warning, but you can still continue. Photos over 100 MB or 100MP are not processed.
- Example 1 · Black box
PNG 800×600 · 204 KB · Black box · area X 100, Y 100, Width 200, Height 100
PNG lossless (re-saving changes the file size) · Measured in Chrome on desktop · test image (synthetic)
→ 800×600 · 31 KB · solid black inside the area, pixels outside identical to the original
- Example 2 · Mosaic, Medium
PNG 800×600 · 204 KB · Mosaic, strength Medium · same area (short side 100px)
PNG lossless · Measured in Chrome on desktop · test image (synthetic)
→ 800×600 · 31 KB · area turned into solid 10px blocks
- Example 3 · Photo with location data
JPG 1200×900 · 171 KB · with GPS and camera info · Mosaic Medium, default [Add area] area 300×225
JPG quality 90 · Measured in Chrome on desktop · test image (synthetic)
→ 1200×900 · 148 KB · no EXIF, so no GPS or camera info
Example figures vary by file and device.
Blur Image options explained
- Effect
- Chooses how areas are hidden. Mosaic (the default) splits the area into square blocks and fills each block with its average color. Blur smudges the area smoothly and looks natural, but depending on how strong it is, text and numbers may stay readable or be recovered. Black box covers the area with solid black, so none of the original pixels remain. The effect applies to every area you draw at once.
- Strength
- Sets how strong Mosaic and Blur are: Low, Medium (the default) or High. A mosaic block is the area's short side divided by 16 (Low), 10 (Medium) or 6 (High), and the blur radius is the short side divided by 16, 8 or 4, both with a minimum of 4px. For an area whose short side is 100px, Mosaic at Medium gives 10px blocks. Black box has no strength setting. For text, license plates and account numbers, use Mosaic (High) or Black box.
- Areas to hide
- Drag on the photo to draw a rectangle. You can draw up to 50 areas, drag an area to move it, and drag a corner to resize it. [Add area] places an area a quarter of the photo's width and height near the center, so you can create areas with the keyboard alone. Move the selected area 1 px at a time with the arrow keys (10 px with Shift), remove it with the Delete key or [Delete], or type exact original-pixel values into the X (left), Y (top), Width and Height fields. [Start] stays disabled until there is at least one area.
Blur Image: frequently asked questions
Are my photos sent to a server?
No. Blurring happens inside this browser and your files are never sent off your device. To check it yourself, follow the steps on the How it works page.
Which effect should I use for license plates or account numbers?
Use Black box or Mosaic (High). Black box covers the area with solid black, so none of the original pixels remain. Blur looks natural, but the shape of the text can survive and may be recovered. Even a mosaic can leave the outline of characters visible when the blocks are small, so zoom in on the result and make sure it can't be read.
Is location data removed too?
Yes. The result is built fresh from the pixels, so metadata such as GPS location and camera details isn't kept. A test image with GPS and camera info (1200×900 JPG, 171 KB) had no EXIF after blurring (148 KB). If there's nothing to hide and you only want to strip the location, use Remove EXIF, which doesn't recompress the photo.
Can I use different effects on different areas?
The effect and strength apply to all the areas you draw at once. To mix effects, process with one effect, save, add the result again and process the other areas. JPG, WebP and AVIF are recompressed each time you save.
Does the rest of the photo keep its quality?
Pixels outside the areas aren't changed, but the result is saved again in the same format as the original (JPG quality 90, WebP 90, AVIF 70, PNG lossless). In our PNG test, pixels outside the area matched the original exactly. JPG, WebP and AVIF use lossy compression, so saving again can introduce very small differences. Colors are saved as sRGB.
Can I undo a mistake?
Your original file isn't changed. Before processing, move or delete the area. If you've already saved, add the original photo again and redraw the areas. When you share, check that you're sending the result file with -blurred in its name.
How do I hide a license plate, shipping label or ID card before posting a photo?
Drag on the photo to draw an area over the plate, label or ID number and choose Black box or Mosaic at High strength. You can draw up to 50 areas, so several spots can be covered in one pass. Afterwards, zoom in on the result to make sure nothing is readable, and if the background shows your home or an address, crop it out first with Crop Image. The guide “Remove location data from photos before sharing” covers the whole routine.
Related tools
How it works · Engine · Notes
- Processed in: this browser (your device)
- Engine: MozJPEG (jSquash) (IJG·BSD-3-Clause) · OxiPNG (MIT) · libwebp (BSD-3-Clause) · libavif·libaom (BSD-2-Clause)
- Mosaic, blur and black box run inside this browser at full resolution, and files are not sent to a server.
- The edit preview applies the same calculation to a scaled-down view, and the result file is recalculated from the original pixels.
- Area coordinates are in original pixels after the EXIF orientation is applied.
- Results keep no EXIF, GPS, XMP or IPTC metadata, and colors are saved as sRGB.
- As of 2026.10.01
- Changelog: 2026.10.01 First release