After
Before
Blur faces and sensitive details
Protect privacy by blurring faces, license plates, screenshots, or sensitive image areas.
- Privacy safe
Privacy demos make the value obvious without needing to explain invisible processing.
Blur Image
Blur reduces visible detail by mixing neighboring pixels. It is useful for soft backgrounds and low risk visual masking, but it is not secure redaction because shapes or text can sometimes be inferred.
or drag and drop images here
Fast async jobs
No install required
Temporary files
Batch uploads
See what this tool changes
Accepted files
.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .webp
Output formats
same_as_input, jpg, png, webp
API endpoint
/filter
Use this tool from your app
Submit files to /filter, poll the job endpoint, then download outputs programmatically.
What it changes
Blur reduces visible detail by mixing neighboring pixels. It is useful for soft backgrounds and low-risk visual masking, but it is not secure redaction because shapes or text can sometimes be inferred.
How it works
A blur replaces a pixel with a weighted average of nearby pixels. Small radii soften texture; large radii remove recognizable detail and create broad color fields.
Performance
Cost increases with radius and image size. Large blurs over huge photos are much slower than small preview blurs.
Best for
- background softening
- hero-image overlays
- reducing visual clutter
- subtle skin or texture smoothing
Limitations
- secure redaction
- small text hiding
- images that must stay sharp
Common artifacts
- halos around hard masks
- soft edges
- visible seams if only part of an image is blurred
Settings
slider
radius
Controls how far neighboring pixels are mixed.
select
edge_handling
Controls how pixels near image borders are sampled.
boolean
strip_metadata
Removes metadata from generated output when supported.
FAQ
Can blur safely hide sensitive text?
Not reliably. Use solid redaction or heavy pixelation for confidential information.
Why is a large blur slower?
The processor has to sample a wider neighborhood around each pixel, so cost rises with radius and megapixels.
Is blur safe for redacting text?
No. Blur can make text harder to read, but it is not secure redaction. Use solid redaction or destructive pixelation for sensitive information.
What blur radius should I use?
Use a small radius for softening texture and a larger radius for background separation. Preview at final output size.
Why does blur create halos near edges?
Large blur kernels mix pixels across high-contrast boundaries, creating visible color bleeding or halos.
Does blur reduce file size?
Not reliably. Final size depends more on output format and compression settings than the blur itself.
Can I use Blur Image without installing software?
Yes. Upload an image, apply the filter through ImageHQ, and download the processed result from the browser.
Does this create a separate backend endpoint?
No. Filter pages are frontend SEO routes that submit to the compact POST /v1/filter API.
References
filter CSS property
MDN Web Docs - browser_documentation
ImageMagick command-line options
ImageMagick - library_documentation
Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum)
W3C WAI - standards_body
blur() CSS function
MDN Web Docs - browser_documentation
Filter Effects Module Level 1
W3C - official_spec