Click to choose an image / screenshot — or drag one here
Redact sensitive details before you share an image
A redaction tool lets you permanently hide private information inside a picture so the wrong person never sees it. Screenshots and photos are full of details you may not want to broadcast: a customer's name in a support ticket, an email thread, a bank balance, a home address on a delivery label, a face in the background, or the numbers on a credit card. You need to redact before forwarding a screenshot to a colleague, attaching an image to a public bug report, posting proof of a problem in a forum, or uploading a document photo to a form. This tool covers each of those areas with a black bar, a blur, or pixelation, and re-renders the picture so the hidden content is genuinely gone from the file you download.
How to redact an image
- Click the box above to choose an image or screenshot, or drag one onto it.
- Drag a rectangle over the first thing you want to hide; repeat to cover as many areas as you need.
- Pick how to hide them from the Hide with menu — black bar, blur or pixelate.
- Use Clear if you want to start the boxes over.
- Click Download to save a new, flattened copy with the hidden areas baked in.
Common jobs this tool helps finish
- Cleaning up support screenshots: cover customer names, emails and ticket numbers before sharing a bug screenshot with a wider team.
- Posting proof publicly: hide your account balance or address while still showing the part of the screen that proves your point.
- Sharing documents: black out a signature, ID number or salary line on a scanned contract or payslip.
- Protecting bystanders: blur faces or license plates in a photo before putting it on social media.
Black bar vs blur vs pixelate — and why true redaction flattens pixels
A black bar paints a solid block over the area, leaving nothing of the original behind — the safest choice for anything truly sensitive. Blur smears the pixels into an unreadable smudge, and pixelate averages them into chunky blocks; both look less harsh but should be used carefully, because a very light blur over large text can sometimes still hint at the original.
The important part is that this tool does real redaction, not a sticker on top. When you download, the image is re-rendered and exported as a brand-new flattened file. There are no separate layers to peel back, no hidden original underneath, and no metadata copy of the covered region. Whatever was under the bar, blur or pixelation is genuinely removed from the file you save — unlike covering text with a shape in a slide or PDF, where the original can often be recovered.
Is it private?
Yes — and that matters more here than almost anywhere else. The whole point of redaction is to protect sensitive information, so it would make little sense to send that information to a stranger's server first. This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your screenshot or document is read from your device, edited on your screen, and re-saved locally. It is never uploaded, never stored by us, and never seen by anyone else. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it will still work.
Related tools
Working with sensitive images? Try Remove Background to isolate a subject, Crop Image to cut out an area entirely, or browse all our privacy tools.
Frequently asked questions
Is my image uploaded when I redact it?
No. Redaction runs 100% in your browser — your screenshots and documents never leave your device, which is exactly what you want when the content is private.
Can the blur or pixelation be reversed later?
The exported image is permanently flattened, so the hidden areas are baked into the pixels. For maximum certainty with highly sensitive data, use the solid black bar, which leaves nothing of the original behind.
Can I hide several areas in one image?
Yes. Drag a box over each area you want to hide and add as many regions as you need before you download. They are all applied together.
Why is real redaction better than drawing a box in another app?
In many editors, slide tools or PDF apps, a black shape sits as a separate layer on top of the original, which can be moved or deleted to reveal what was underneath. Here the image is re-rendered on download, so the covered content is genuinely gone.
What file formats can I redact?
Common image formats including JPG, PNG and WebP. The download is a standard flattened image you can share anywhere.