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Pixelate an image

Turn a whole picture into a pixel mosaic, or pixelate only faces and the areas you brush, at the original size; it all happens in your browser.

Drop an image to pixelateThe whole picture or only the parts you brush · up to 3 images free
Choose imagesProcessed on your device — never uploaded
Runs in your browser · no uploadHow it works

How to use Pixelate image

  1. 1

    Add the picture

    Drop or paste up to three images of up to 25 MB. The whole picture is pixelated the moment it opens.

  2. 2

    Set the block size

    Drag Strength: low values give small blocks that soften the image, high values give large, chunky squares.

  3. 3

    Or pixelate only parts

    Switch off Whole image to cover just the detected faces, then add rectangles, ellipses or brush strokes over anything else.

  4. 4

    Download

    Save name-pixelated.jpg in the original format and size, or all images as a ZIP.

Limits and Pro

Up to 3 images per batch, each up to 25 MB, pixelated at full resolution.

Pro pixelates batches of up to 500 images and files larger than 25 MB. See Pro

About Pixelate image

Pixelation replaces an area of a picture with a grid of flat squares, each filled with the average colour of the pixels it covers. Large blocks turn a face, a number plate or a screen into an unrecognisable mosaic; small blocks give a softer, retro 8-bit look. On this page the effect covers the whole image by default, which is what you want for a censored thumbnail, a teaser picture, a background or pixel-art style artwork.

The block size follows the Strength slider and scales with the picture, from about 0.6% to 4.4% of its longest side, so the mosaic looks the same on a small screenshot and on a 12-megapixel photo. Switch off Whole image and the editor turns into a selective tool: faces are detected automatically on your device, text such as names and plates can be located with OCR, and you can draw rectangles, ellipses or freehand strokes with the brush wherever you want blocks. Each area can be ticked off or moved before you save.

The output has the same resolution and format as the original, and the parts you didn't cover keep their exact pixels. Camera details and GPS position are not copied, because the image is encoded again. Pixelation is a visual effect, not a secure redaction: with coarse blocks over short text, a determined person can sometimes guess the original by pixelating candidates the same way and comparing. For passwords, card numbers and ID documents, choose Solid box, which leaves nothing to reconstruct.

Privacy

The mosaic is drawn on a canvas in your browser, and the optional face detection and OCR also run on your device, so the image is never uploaded. Only the detection model and OCR data are downloaded from public CDNs when first needed; your pictures aren't stored anywhere.

Features

Whole picture or parts

Pixelate everything, or only faces and the areas you draw.

Automatic face finding

On-device detection covers faces when Whole image is off.

Brush and shapes

Rectangles, ellipses and freehand strokes for anything else.

Original size and format

Uncovered pixels stay untouched; JPG stays JPG, PNG stays PNG.

Pixelate image: frequently asked questions

How do I pixelate an entire image?
Just add it: on this page the Whole image switch is on from the start, so the full picture turns into blocks straight away. Drag Strength to make the squares bigger or smaller, then download. The file keeps its original width and height, so a 1080 × 1080 post stays 1080 × 1080, just pixelated.
How do I pixelate only a face or one part of a photo?
Turn off Whole image. Faces the detector finds are covered automatically; untick any you want to keep. To hide something else, pick Rectangle, Ellipse or Brush above the preview and draw over it. You can move or resize each shape with its handles, and every enabled area is pixelated with the same block size.
Can pixelation be reversed?
There is no button that undoes it, because the detail inside each block is averaged away. With large blocks over a known kind of content, such as a short number, an attacker can sometimes test guesses by pixelating candidates the same way. Bigger blocks make that harder, but a Solid box, which paints one flat colour, is the safe choice for confidential text.
What block size should I choose?
For hiding faces or plates in a typical photo, a strength of 40–70 gives blocks big enough that features can't be recognised. For an artistic 8-bit look on a whole picture, lower values around 10–30 keep the shapes readable. Because the size is relative to the image, the same setting works on small and large files alike.
Is pixelating better than blurring?
They hide things similarly well when strong; the choice is mostly about the look. Pixelation produces the familiar mosaic used on television and in news photos, while blur gives a softer, more photographic result. Weak settings of either can leave shapes recognisable. Both effects, plus a solid box, are available in the Effect panel, so you can compare them on your own photo before saving.

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