Manually pixelate a marked area — free online tool
Hide a face by painting over it and pixelating it in coarse blocks. Manual brush, 6 to 48 px blocks; a mosaic, not a soft blur. Done in your browser.
The preview will appear here after you select a file.
What to know
Despite the word blur in the address, this page produces a mosaic rather than a soft Gaussian blur: the marked face is cut into square blocks and each block is flattened to its average color. There is no face detection, so you paint over each face yourself with the brush, with Mark area on, and use Erase mark to trim overshoot.
Pick the block size from the face, not from the whole photo. A useful rule is to make blocks at least a fifth of the face width, so a face that is 240 px wide wants blocks of about 48 px, which leaves around five blocks across and no recognizable features. A block of 18 px, the default, leaves roughly thirteen blocks across the same face, and eyes and a mouth can still be guessed.
The brush size is in preview pixels, so on a large photo the same brush covers more of the image. Paint a little beyond the hairline and jaw, remembering that the mosaic can extend one block past your stroke anyway. In group photos mark every face you need to hide, including partial faces at the edge and faces in reflections or on screens behind people.
Check the result at 100 percent before sharing. The export is drawn fresh in the source format at quality 0.92, so location and camera metadata are not carried over. Whether you may publish a photo of identifiable people depends on where you are, so blurring does not replace asking for consent.
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How to use Manually pixelate a marked area — free online tool
- Add the photo and make sure Mark area is selected.
- Set Pixel size to 40 for a face about 200 px wide, and Brush size to 44 or larger.
- Paint across the whole face including the hairline, then trim with Erase mark if needed.
- Press Redact marked areas, check at full size and download.
Quick answers
Is this a true blur like in photo apps?
No. It is a block mosaic. Each square is filled with its average color, which is more resistant to being undone than a light blur.
What block size hides a face reliably?
Aim for blocks of at least about a fifth of the face width. For a face 240 px wide that is roughly 48 px, the top of the Pixel size range.
Why can I still recognize someone after pixelating?
The blocks may be too small. Hairstyle, clothing and the setting can also identify a person, so cover more than the face when privacy matters.
Does it find faces automatically?
No. Every face is painted by hand, so check that none in the background were missed.