Pixelate Image
Pixelate a whole image or just a selected region — ideal for hiding faces, plates and private info. Adjustable block size, live preview, free download.
About the Pixelate Image
Pixelation is the fastest way to hide something in a picture — a face, a number plate, an address on a screenshot — or to create deliberate retro mosaic art. This tool does both: pixelate the entire image, or switch to region mode and position a rectangle (with simple left/top/width/height sliders) over exactly the area you want obscured.
The block-size slider controls how coarse the pixelation is. For genuine privacy redaction, use large blocks — heavy pixelation of small regions is hard to reverse, though for truly sensitive text a solid black box is always the safest choice.
Everything runs in your browser on an HTML canvas; the image is never uploaded, which is exactly what you want when the whole point is hiding sensitive information. The dashed region outline appears only in the preview, never in the downloaded file.
How to Use the Pixelate Image
- 1Upload the image.
- 2Choose Whole image or Selected region, and set the block size.
- 3In region mode, position the rectangle with the four sliders — the dashed outline shows the area.
- 4Download the pixelated image as PNG or JPG.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I pixelate a face in a photo?
Choose Selected region mode, move the rectangle over the face using the sliders, and increase the block size until features are unrecognizable — usually 20 px blocks or more. Then download; the outline marker is not included in the file.
Can pixelation be reversed?
Coarse pixelation discards information and cannot be simply undone, but research has shown that weak pixelation of text or faces can sometimes be partially reconstructed. Use large block sizes, and for highly sensitive text prefer solid redaction.
What's the difference between pixelating and blurring?
Blur averages neighboring pixels smoothly; pixelation replaces square blocks with a single color. Pixelation generally destroys more information at comparable strength and reads clearly as 'deliberately hidden'.
Is my image uploaded when I pixelate it?
No — processing is 100% in-browser, which is exactly what you want for images containing private information.
Can I pixelate the whole photo for a retro game look?
Yes — choose Whole image mode with a modest block size (8–16 px) for the classic 8-bit mosaic aesthetic.