Pixelate image
Pixelate an Image Online — Free, Right in Your Browser
Draw a mosaic over faces, plates and private details, or turn a photo into pixel art. The image is processed on your device and is never uploaded.
Drop an image here to pixelate it
or click to choose a file
JPG · PNG · WEBP · up to 10 MB — pixelation happens locally, so the image is never uploaded. Only edit images you own or have the right to use.
How it works
How to pixelate an image
Drop in an image
JPG, PNG or WEBP up to 10 MB. The file opens straight in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
Choose what to hide
Pixelate the whole image, or drag boxes over just the faces, plates or text you want covered.
Download the PNG
Slide the block size until the detail is unreadable, then save. It runs locally, so it is free and needs no account.
Use cases
What people hide with a mosaic
Faces in shared photos
Cover people who did not agree to appear in your post, group album or neighbourhood-group screenshot.
Licence plates
Block out plates on cars and bikes before publishing dashcam stills or classified-ad photos.
Chat and email snippets
Hide names, phone numbers, one-time codes and avatars before a screenshot leaves your device.
Invoices and documents
Mask amounts, addresses and account numbers in receipts you attach to expense reports or tickets.
Screenshots for tutorials
Publish how-to guides and bug reports without exposing customer data, file paths or keys.
Pixel art and retro effects
Push the block size up and any photo becomes an 8-bit style sprite, avatar or game asset.
Choosing a censor
Pixelate or blur — which hides more?
Pixelation
The image is reduced to large squares, so fine detail — letterforms, features, digits — is discarded rather than softened. With a sensible block size there is little left for anyone to estimate from.
Blurring
A blur smears edges but keeps the underlying brightness pattern. Lightly blurred text often stays guessable, and enhancement tools have an easier job with a smear than with true blocks.
Both effects only hide detail when they are strong enough. Whatever you use, zoom in afterwards and check that you can no longer read the text or recognise the feature you meant to cover. And the reverse also holds: if you want a pixelated photo made readable again, that is an AI estimate, not an exact undo — see the guide on how to unpixelate an image.
FAQ
Pixelate image — frequently asked questions
Is the pixelate tool free?
Yes. Pixelation is computed by your own browser, so there is nothing to pay and no account to create — open the page, drop in an image and download the result.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. The whole tool runs in your browser tab: the mosaic is drawn on a local canvas and the download is generated on your device. Nothing leaves your browser.
Can a pixelated image be reversed?
Pixelation discards the original pixels, so it cannot be exactly undone. AI tools can at best estimate a plausible reconstruction, and the estimate may not match what was really there. For anything sensitive, use a generous block size.
Should I pixelate or blur to hide information?
For text, plates and documents, pixelation with a solid block size is the dependable choice: the detail is thrown away rather than smeared. Light blur or very small blocks can leave shapes that enhancement tools are able to estimate.
What block size should I use?
Start around 12 px for faces and text at normal screenshot size. If the image is high-resolution, or the information is especially sensitive, go larger — the goal is that the original characters and features are no longer readable to you.
Can I pixelate only part of an image?
Yes. Switch from “Entire image” to “Boxes I draw”, then drag a box over each area you want covered — a face here, a plate there — while the rest of the photo stays sharp.
More questions? See the frequently asked questions page.
More pixel tools
Go the other direction, or fix a whole photo
Unpixelate text
A screenshot came out blurry or blocked and you need to read it? The AI text tool sharpens letters in screenshots, chat snippets and scanned documents.
Unpixelate image (AI)
For photos that turned pixelated on their own — compression, upscaling, a small screenshot blown up — the AI tool estimates the missing edges and texture.
Ready to cover the details?
Free, in-browser, and your image never leaves your device.
Pixelate an image now