Image Pixelator

Apply a pixel-art / mosaic blur effect with a block-size slider — no upload.

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PNG, JPG, WebP — processed in your browser

Pixelate images online — free, no upload

The pixelation effect works by downsampling the image to a tiny grid (one pixel per block) then scaling it back up with nearest-neighbor sampling — giving the classic mosaic/pixel-art look. Larger block sizes create more extreme pixelation. Use it to censor faces, create retro game graphics, or build pixel-art effects. For color effects, try Grayscale or Color Inverter.

Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated 19 July 2026

What this tool is used for

Obscuring a face or a name in a screenshot before sharing it.
Producing a pixel-art effect for a graphic.
Creating a low-fidelity placeholder from a real image.
Blurring a region of a screenshot for a bug report.
Making a mosaic effect where the block grid is part of the design.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the effect produced?: The image is drawn onto a canvas one *block* per pixel — an 800px-wide picture at a 16px block becomes 50px wide — and then scaled back up with image smoothing turned off. Turning smoothing off is what gives hard square edges instead of a blur.
Is pixelating safe for hiding sensitive information?: No. Pixelation is a reversible transform when the hidden content comes from a small known set: researchers have recovered pixelated text and licence plates by rendering candidates through the same filter and matching. For anything that matters, draw a solid box.
What block size should I use?: For an unrecognisable face, blocks of at least a twentieth of the face's width — roughly 20–30px on a typical portrait. Below about 8px on a large image the effect is decorative rather than concealing, and the original is still legible at a glance.
Is blurring better than pixelating?: Neither is safe for redaction, and a Gaussian blur is if anything easier to attack because it preserves more low-frequency information. The only reliable redaction is destroying the pixels — an opaque rectangle, flattened into the exported file.
Does the export keep transparency?: PNG and WebP do; JPEG has no alpha channel at all and composites transparent areas onto black. Pick PNG if the source had transparency, and note that the exported file is a *new* image with no metadata from the original.
Why does pixelation sometimes still show what it hid?: Because each block is an average, and averages leak. For a small known set of possibilities — digits, a licence plate, a short name — an attacker can pixelate every candidate the same way and match the result. Cover it with a solid shape instead.

Common errors and gotchas

Using pixelation to redact sensitive text, which can sometimes be reversed or simply guessed.
Choosing a block size too small to actually obscure the content.
Pixelating a region and leaving the same information visible elsewhere in the image.
Assuming the effect is irreversible, when a weak pixelation over known text often is not.
Keeping the original alongside the redacted copy in the same folder.