Will it find every face?

It finds most faces that are turned towards the camera and at least about 10 pixels across, but not every one: faces in profile, turned away, in deep shadow or behind sunglasses and masks can be missed. Look over the outlines before saving, and drag a box over anything left uncovered. For a video, step through it with the slider; turning on small faces helps with people far from the camera.

Is a blurred face safe to share?

The cover keeps only a few blocks of colour from each face, which is not enough to recognise it or to undo. Other things can still identify someone - hair, clothes, a tattoo, a voice in a video, their surroundings - so cover those too where it matters. The solid colour option leaves nothing of the face at all.

How long does a video take?

Finding the faces takes roughly as long as the video plays on a typical laptop, and longer with small faces turned on; making the video takes about as long again. Nothing is uploaded, so a long video costs time rather than a file size limit.

Are my photos and videos uploaded?

No. The face detector is downloaded to your browser once, and the photos and videos are opened, searched and saved on your computer. Nothing is sent to a server.

Stays on your computer Needs a desktop or laptop browserHow this works

Blur faces in photos and videos - free, no upload

Faces are found for you and blurred, pixelated or blacked out. Leave anyone uncovered with a click, cover what was missed with a box, and save - in your browser, with nothing uploaded

Drag & drop photos or a video here, or browse

JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC · MP4, MOV, WebM · several photos at once · nothing is uploaded

About this face blur tool

Before a photo or video goes online - a street scene, a classroom, a protest, a dashcam clip, footage for a complaint - other people's faces often need hiding. Most face blur sites want the file uploaded, and the video ones cap the length or add a watermark. This one finds the faces on your computer and keeps them there. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.

Faces are found with YuNet, a small face detector published by OpenCV under the MIT licence. It looks at each picture at more than one size, so both a face filling the frame and a face across the street are found. In a video it looks at every frame and follows each face from frame to frame, filling in moments the detector missed and covering a little before and after, so no face shows for a frame between covered ones.

The cover is made by shrinking the face to a handful of blocks and enlarging it again - smoothed for blur, sharp for pixelate - so too little of the face is left to recover it. A light blur filter, by contrast, can sometimes be undone.

What you can do

Blur, pixelate or black out every face in a photo or a video, found automatically
Leave chosen faces uncovered with a click - yourself, or the person the video is about
Drag a box over anything missed: a face turned away, a name badge, a number plate
Oval or rectangular covers, with the strength and size you choose
Many photos at once, saved one by one or together as a ZIP
Videos of any length, saved as MP4 with the sound kept and no watermark
Location and camera details are left out of saved photos

How to blur faces

Drop photos or a video onto the page. For a video, press Find the faces.
Check the outlines: click any face that should stay visible, and drag across anything that was missed.
Choose blur, pixelate or a solid colour, then save the photo or make the video.

Questions

Will it find every face?: It finds most faces that are turned towards the camera and at least about 10 pixels across, but not every one: faces in profile, turned away, in deep shadow or behind sunglasses and masks can be missed. Look over the outlines before saving, and drag a box over anything left uncovered. For a video, step through it with the slider; turning on small faces helps with people far from the camera.
Is a blurred face safe to share?: The cover keeps only a few blocks of colour from each face, which is not enough to recognise it or to undo. Other things can still identify someone - hair, clothes, a tattoo, a voice in a video, their surroundings - so cover those too where it matters. The solid colour option leaves nothing of the face at all.
How long does a video take?: Finding the faces takes roughly as long as the video plays on a typical laptop, and longer with small faces turned on; making the video takes about as long again. Nothing is uploaded, so a long video costs time rather than a file size limit.
Are my photos and videos uploaded?: No. The face detector is downloaded to your browser once, and the photos and videos are opened, searched and saved on your computer. Nothing is sent to a server.

Built by John McMillan, a senior full-stack engineer. Open to remote roles: hire me.

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