How to Blur Faces in Photos Before Sharing
Blur or pixelate faces, plates, and screens before posting. Why pixelation beats blur, and a free private tool that runs in your browser.
By Formatly
Group photo, one friend who didn’t consent to be posted. Screenshot with an address visible. Kid’s school name on a uniform. Before that image goes online, the sensitive bits need to disappear — properly.
Blur vs. pixelate: pixelate wins
A light Gaussian blur can sometimes be partially reversed with deconvolution — researchers have demonstrated it. Heavy pixelation with large blocks destroys far more information and is practically irreversible. Rule of thumb: if you can still guess what it says, it’s not censored enough. When in doubt, use bigger blocks.
The privacy checklist
- Pixelate faces, license plates, addresses, screens, documents, and name tags
- Check reflections — mirrors, windows, and sunglasses leak faces
- Remember the export is flattened: the original still exists on your device, so don’t share that file
- Strip EXIF metadata too — GPS coordinates survive blurring
Do it without uploading
Uploading a sensitive photo to a “free blur tool” to make it more private is backwards. Our blur & pixelate tool runs 100% in your browser — draw regions over faces and plates, tune the intensity, download the flattened result. Your photo never touches a server.