Blur Image Online

Blur the whole photo, just a face, or everything except your subject. Adjust the strength live and download at full resolution. Nothing is uploaded.

Drop an image to get started

JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, or a screenshot. Processed on your device, never uploaded.

  • Never uploaded
  • Free, no signup
  • No watermark
  • Removes location data

Three ways to blur a photo

Blur the whole image

This is the default. It is useful for wallpapers, slide and website backgrounds behind text, and teaser images where only the colors and mood should come through.

Blur one part

Switch to Selected areas and drag over what you want softened: a face, a stranger in the background, a screen, or a logo you don't want to promote. Add as many areas as you need, and use the ellipse shape for faces.

Blur the background

Choose Selected areas, tick Keep areas sharp, and place the box around your subject. The subject stays sharp while everything around it is blurred, an effect similar to portrait mode. It works best when the subject is roughly rectangular or round; the selection is a shape, not a cut-out, so a little of the background just outside the subject stays sharp too.

Choosing the blur strength

Strength is measured in image pixels, so the same number looks stronger on a small image than on a large one. As a starting point:

  • 2 to 6: a soft-focus look that takes the edge off detail and noise.
  • 8 to 20: a clearly out-of-focus background on a typical phone photo.
  • 25 and up: shapes dissolve into color. Use this level or higher if you are blurring anything identifying.
Blur is not the strongest way to hide something
Blur moves information around rather than deleting it. Weak blurs can be partly reversed, and blurred text can be guessed by blurring candidates and comparing. For faces you need hidden, switch the effect to Pixelate; for text and numbers, use Solid box. The pixelation vs blurring guide explains why.

A real Gaussian blur, done privately

The blur is a true Gaussian approximation computed on the image pixels, and it reads from the surrounding area so edges blend naturally instead of showing a hard seam. It runs in your browser, so photos of your family, your home, or your documents are never uploaded anywhere, and the downloaded file contains no location metadata.

Frequently Asked Questions

Drop your image into the tool above. The whole picture is blurred straight away; move the Blur strength slider to make it softer or stronger, then click Download. To blur only part of it, switch to Selected areas and drag a box over that part.

Choose Selected areas, tick Keep areas sharp, then move the box or ellipse over your subject. The subject stays sharp and everything around it is blurred. You can add several areas to keep more than one person or object sharp.

Switch to Selected areas, pick the Ellipse shape, and drag it over the face. Use a high blur strength, at least a quarter of the face's width. For real privacy, pixelate is stronger than blur, and the Effect panel lets you switch with one click.

Partially, sometimes. A blur spreads each pixel's value over its neighbours rather than deleting it, so a weak blur can be partly reversed by deconvolution, and blurred text can be matched against guesses. Strong blur on a face is hard to undo, but for anything sensitive, pixelation or a solid box is the safer choice.

Only in the areas you blur. The rest of the image is exported at its original resolution, and PNG export is lossless. JPG and WebP are smaller files but add a little compression.

More free tools

Related guides