Redact & black out parts of an image
Permanently hide names, faces or numbers — baked in, unrecoverable, nothing uploaded
Drag the black box over what to hide; add more boxes and resize from the corner. The boxes are baked into the download and cannot be recovered.
Why redaction has to be destructive
Blurring or pixelating sensitive text feels safe, but it can often be reversed — the original characters or face reconstructed from the blur pattern. A solid black box removes the pixels entirely, so there is nothing left to recover. That is the only redaction you can trust for a screenshot you are about to post publicly. (Just hiding a face in a casual photo? Pixelation is usually enough — use the blur-face tool.)
How to redact a screenshot
- Add your image. It is read locally — never sent anywhere.
- Drag the black box over what to hide; add more boxes as needed and resize from the corner.
- Download. The boxes are flattened in, and the original metadata is dropped too.
Frequently asked questions
Can blacked-out text be recovered from the image?
No. The black boxes are drawn onto the image and flattened into the file you download — they are not a separate layer, so the pixels underneath are gone for good.
Is it safe to just blur or pixelate instead of blacking out?
Not always — blur and pixelation can sometimes be reversed to reveal the original text or face. A solid black box permanently removes the information, which is why this tool uses one.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is drawn and exported entirely in your browser with the Canvas API. Open DevTools and watch the Network tab — nothing is sent.
Does it also remove metadata?
Yes. Re-encoding the image on export drops the original EXIF/GPS metadata. To only strip metadata (without blacking anything out), use the remove-metadata tool.