BlurThis

How it works

Your file opens into a canvas in this tab. You paint covers here. You download from the same tab. No account, no BlurThis upload.

Blur a photo or screenshot

  1. 1

    Open your image

    Choose a photo or screenshot. It stays in this tab.

  2. 2

    Cover the private bit

    Drag a box over a face or a name. Use Black bar for emails, phones, and card digits.

  3. 3

    Download the PNG

    Share that copy—not the original.

BlurThis editor with Blur tools and two faces covered on the built-in sample photoOpen larger image in a new tab

Use a black bar for short secrets: phones, emails, codes, card digits. Blur is fine for faces and messy backgrounds. Pixelate is a look, not a stronger cover than blur at the same strength. Full labels: Choose image or Choose video, then tools, then Download PNG.

Blur part of a video

  1. 1

    Choose and trim

    Open the Video tab and pick a clip. Files over 50 MB are rejected. Trim up to 90 seconds. Export scales to a 720-pixel longest edge.

  2. 2

    Mark blur in and out

    Press Blur In, place a box, scrub, then Blur Out. No auto tracking. No opaque black bar on video.

  3. 3

    Download the video

    Pick Blur or Pixelate, preview, then download. Best in Chrome or Edge on desktop.

Video: 50 MB in, 90 seconds out, 720-pixel longest edge. No opaque black bar on video.

What “runs in your browser” actually means

BlurThis does not host your original. The browser decodes the file into memory for this tab, draws it on a canvas, and composites blur, pixelate, or black bar regions you place. Download writes a new file from that canvas (PNG for stills, MP4 or WebM for video). Closing the tab clears the working copy from that session. We do not claim a forensic wipe of disk caches, cloud backups, or other apps that already stored the original.

A pause while a large image opens or a face model loads is normal on-device work, not proof of an upload. For a careful Network-panel check, follow how to verify no upload.

Still images: paint, then export PNG

Box selections are fast for rectangles. Draw covers irregular shapes. Find faces and Find text are suggestions that run on your device after a small model loads once. They miss profiles, tiny heads, and odd fonts. You still own the final pass: zoom the export and count what should be gone.

Prefer PNG when you can. Opaque black bars flattened into PNG stay gone even if a chat app later recompresses to JPEG. Weak blur or a missed edge is a different failure. Details: JPEG vs PNG for redaction.

Video: timed boxes inside hard limits

Video encode also stays in the tab. That is why limits exist: Video: 50 MB in, 90 seconds out, 720-pixel longest edge. No opaque black bar on video. There is no auto face tracking and no opaque black bar on video. You place a region, set Blur In and Blur Out, scrub at normal speed, then export. For moving subjects, use a wide box or several short timed covers. Trim first when the secret sits at the edge of the timeline.

Full clip workflow: how to blur part of a video online. Face-specific stills: blur a face. Short secrets: blur text.

Why this is safe to use (and what it is not)

Safer than uploading the original to a random redaction server, yes. Identity-proof by itself, no. A soft blur across the eyes can leave hair, badges, and clothing identifiable. A light smear over an IBAN can leave digit stems. Always open the downloaded file at full size before you share. If the secret is high risk, cut the segment out of the video or crop the still so the secret never appears.

Start with the free canvas

Open the homepage editor, try the sample, or jump to a focused landing for faces, screenshots, text, plates, or video. The canvas UI is the same; only the surrounding guidance changes.

Open the tool