Manually redact a license plate — free online tool
Cover a vehicle license plate by painting along it and pixelating in blocks of 6 to 48 px. Manual, no plate detection. Block size rule of thumb included.
The preview will appear here after you select a file.
What to know
A plate is a wide, short rectangle, so the work is a single horizontal stroke with Mark area on. No plate detection exists here, which means you also have to find every plate in the frame: the car in front, a second car at the edge, a plate reflected in a window and a front plate if the picture shows both ends.
Block size is the setting that matters. Plate characters are tall relative to the plate, usually about 70 percent of its height, and a block has to be large compared with that height to make them unreadable. A reliable rule is to use blocks at least half the plate height: a plate 40 px tall wants blocks of about 20 px or more, which squeezes each character into one or two blocks. Using 6 px on that plate would leave letter shapes visible.
The default Pixel size of 18 works for a plate that is about 36 px tall or more, which is a car filling a fair part of a 1200 px wide photo. For a plate shot close up and 120 px tall, move up toward 48. The brush runs from 8 to 160 px in preview pixels, so a thin 20 px brush along a small plate is easier to control than the default 44.
Also look for other identifiers near the plate: a parking permit, a dealer sticker or a company name on the door. Check the finished picture at full size, and remember the mosaic can run a block past your stroke. The export is drawn fresh at quality 0.92 in the source format, so the original photo and its location tags stay untouched on your side.
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How to use Manually redact a license plate — free online tool
- Add the photo and zoom the preview mentally to the plate; keep Mark area selected.
- Set Brush size to about 20 and Pixel size to roughly half the plate height, for example 20.
- Draw one stroke along the plate and repeat for every other plate in the frame.
- Press Redact marked areas, inspect at full size and download.
Quick answers
What block size hides plate characters reliably?
Use blocks at least about half the plate height. For a plate 40 px tall that means 20 px or more, so each character falls into one or two blocks.
Is the default Pixel size of 18 enough for a plate?
For a plate around 36 px tall or larger, yes. For a close-up with a plate 120 px tall, raise it toward 48 to keep characters unreadable.
Does it detect the plate automatically?
No. You find and paint every plate yourself, including reflections and ones at the frame edge.
Should I also cover the rest of the car?
Not necessarily, but stickers, permits and company names near the plate can identify a vehicle too, so check those as well.