Image Redaction Tool
Blackout, pixelate, or blur sensitive parts of a photo before sharing it — blackout permanently destroys the underlying pixels.
TL;DR: Image Redaction Tool is a free, browser-based tool that lets you blackout, pixelate, or blur sensitive parts of a photo before sharing it — blackout permanently destroys the underlying pixels.
Drag & drop a photo here
Drag a box over each area to redact, then choose a method below.
About this tool
Redact sensitive parts of a photo — a face, an ID number, an address on an envelope — by drawing a box over each area and choosing how to obscure it. Blackout, pixelation, and blur are not equally secure: blackout replaces the marked pixels with a single solid color, which is a genuinely irreversible transformation — no information about the original pixels survives, since every possible input maps to the same output. Pixelation and blur are visually similar but weaker: both are known to be at least partially reversible with the right technique, especially at a light setting, so they're better suited to casually obscuring something than to protecting genuinely sensitive information like a document number or account details.
Key Features
- Draw one or more redaction boxes directly on the image
- Choose blackout, pixelation, or blur for the marked areas
- Blackout permanently destroys the original pixel data in those areas
- Remove the last box or start over before applying
- Runs entirely in your browser — the photo is never uploaded
How to Use
- Drag a photo in, or click to browse for one.
- Drag a box over each area you want to redact.
- Choose blackout, pixelate, or blur.
- Click Apply & download to get the redacted image.
When to use it
- Blacking out a face before posting a group photo publicly
- Covering an account number, ID number, or address visible in a screenshot or scanned document
- Blurring a license plate or background detail before sharing a photo
- Redacting sensitive text in a photographed document before sending it
- Preparing a photo for a public listing or forum post without revealing identifying details
Tips & limitations
- For anything genuinely sensitive — a document number, an SSN, an account number — use blackout, not blur or pixelation. Published research has shown both blur and pixelation can be partially reversed with the right technique, especially at a light setting; blackout has no such weakness because it discards the original pixel values entirely, not just obscures them
- Make each redaction box comfortably larger than the area you're covering — a box that's slightly too small will leave a visible sliver of the original content at the edge
- This works on the visible image only — if the original photo has EXIF metadata (like GPS location), redacting part of the image doesn't remove that separately; use an EXIF remover for that
- Once you click Apply, the redaction is baked into the downloaded image permanently — keep your original file if you might need the unredacted version again later
Why blackout is the only fully secure option
| Method | Reversible? | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Blackout | No — information is fully destroyed | Genuinely sensitive data: ID numbers, account details, documents |
| Pixelation | Partially, with the right technique | Casually obscuring something, not true security |
| Blur | Partially, with the right technique | Casually obscuring something, not true security |
The reason is mathematical, not a quirk of this tool: blackout replaces every pixel in the region with the exact same value, so there’s nothing left to reconstruct. Blur and pixelation are a lossy average of the original pixels — lossy, but not zero information — which is exactly what makes partial reconstruction possible in some cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Not reliably — there's published research demonstrating that pixelated and blurred text or faces can sometimes be partially reconstructed, especially at a light pixelation or blur setting. For genuinely sensitive information, blackout is the only method that fully destroys the original data rather than just averaging it.
- No — redaction changes the visible pixels only. If the photo has embedded EXIF metadata like GPS coordinates, that's separate from the visible image content and needs to be removed on its own, for example with an EXIF remover tool.
- Not from the redacted file itself — once applied and downloaded, blackout in particular has permanently destroyed that pixel data. Keep your original photo if you might need an unredacted version later.
- Yes — draw as many boxes as needed before clicking Apply; all of them get redacted with whichever method is selected at that time.
Cite This Tool
Referencing this tool in a paper, article, or bibliography? Copy a ready-made citation below.
Embed This Tool
Add the live Image Redaction Tool tool to your own website with this snippet — it loads the real, working tool in an iframe, not a static screenshot.
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