Pixelate Effect

Pixelate (mosaic) any image — private, in-browser

Pixelation turns an image into large color blocks by lowering its resolution and scaling it back up. It’s used for:

• privacy / censoring (faces, plates, sensitive data)
• retro / pixel-art style
• thumbnail readability (simplify busy backgrounds)
• design texture (chunky mosaics)

This tool pixelates a single JPEG/PNG/WebP entirely on your device, with controls that actually change the character of the result:

• Block Size (pixelation amount)
• Sampling Mode (Smooth vs Sharp)
• Strength (mix with original)
• Surprise me randomized looks

No uploads. No server processing.

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Workflow & usage

1. Add an image Drag & drop, click to select, or paste (Ctrl/⌘ + V). EXIF orientation is respected.

2. Set Block Size Block Size is the main control. Start around 10–20 for stylized pixelation, or 25–60 for strong censoring.

3. Pick sampling

   • Smooth (default): cleaner blocks, more “mosaic”
   • Sharp: harsher, more pixel-art / crunchy

4. Adjust Strength Lower strength to blend the pixelation with the original (useful for subtle stylization).

5. Download Export at full resolution in the original file format.

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What is pixelation?

Pixelation is a two-step trick:

1. Downscale the image to a much smaller resolution
2. Upscale it back using nearest-neighbor (no smoothing)

That upscale step is what creates the blocky “pixels.”

Pixelate vs blur (for privacy)

• Blur hides detail but can sometimes be partially recovered by deblurring or AI.
• Pixelation destroys detail by reducing resolution, which is generally safer for censorship (though extreme AI can still guess context).

If you’re censoring sensitive information, pixelation is usually better than blur.

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Where pixelation is used

Privacy / censorship

• blur/pixelate faces in screenshots
• hide license plates
• mask addresses, emails, ID numbers

Retro & pixel-art aesthetics

• game-style visuals
• 8-bit / 16-bit vibe
• stylized portraits

Thumbnails & social

• simplify a busy background so text pops
• create “mystery reveal” thumbnails

Design textures

• poster backgrounds
• UI section textures
• abstract mosaics

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Controls explained (deep but practical)

1. Block Size (resolution)

This controls how big each pixel block is.

• 2–6: subtle, almost like a stylized denoise
• 8–16: classic pixelate look (good for portraits)
• 18–35: strong stylization, good for thumbnails
• 40–100: heavy mosaic / censorship

Tip: for censoring text (addresses, IDs), you often need larger blocks than for censoring faces.

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2. Sampling Mode (Smooth vs Sharp)

This tool lets you choose how the downscale step happens.

Smooth (default)

Uses averaging (bilinear) when shrinking.

What it looks like:

• cleaner blocks
• less noise
• more “mosaic poster” feel

Best for:

• thumbnails
• backgrounds
• product shots
• most privacy use

Sharp

Uses nearest-neighbor for the shrink step too.

What it looks like:

• crunchy, pixel-art character
• preserves noisy edges and micro-detail inside blocks
• can feel more “retro”

Best for:

• pixel-art aesthetics
• glitchy retro looks
• stylized portraits

Rule: if Smooth feels too clean, try Sharp.

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3. Strength (mix)

Strength controls how much of the pixelated image is blended over the original.

• 100%: full pixelation
• 60–90%: strong but still readable detail in some areas
• 20–60%: subtle stylization / background simplification

This is your “non-destructive” dial—lower strength without re-tuning block size.

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Quick presets (copy these settings)

Face censor (safe-ish)

• Block Size: 25–45
• Sampling: Smooth
• Strength: 100%

Text censor (addresses / IDs)

• Block Size: 45–80
• Sampling: Smooth
• Strength: 100%

Retro pixel portrait

• Block Size: 10–18
• Sampling: Sharp
• Strength: 100%

Thumbnail background simplifier

• Block Size: 12–26
• Sampling: Smooth
• Strength: 60–85%

Subtle stylized grain removal

• Block Size: 6–10
• Sampling: Smooth
• Strength: 40–70%

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Tips for best results

• If you’re censoring, go bigger than you think. Faces may need 25–45, but small text often needs 50+.

• Use Smooth for cleaner censorship. Sharp can preserve edges that still hint at details.

• Use Strength for subtlety. Keep block size moderate and lower strength for “stylized but not destroyed.”

• Preview vs final: The preview is capped for speed; the download is full resolution.

• Optimize after export Run results through Image Compressor or Progressive JPEG Converter for production-ready sizes.

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How it works

Pixelation here is implemented as:

1. Draw your image to a working canvas.
2. Create a smaller “downscaled” canvas whose size is roughly:
   • smallW = w / blockSize
   • smallH = h / blockSize
3. Downscale using:
   • Smooth: imageSmoothingEnabled = true
   • Sharp: imageSmoothingEnabled = false
4. Upscale back to full size with nearest-neighbor (smoothing OFF).
5. Blend the pixelated layer over the original using Strength (globalAlpha).

Why upscaling is always nearest-neighbor

Nearest-neighbor preserves the block edges. If we smoothed the upscale, you’d get blur instead of pixelation.

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Troubleshooting

• It doesn’t look blocky enough Increase block size and ensure strength is 100%.

• It looks too noisy / chaotic Use Smooth sampling or reduce block size slightly.

• Edges look too harsh Use Smooth sampling and/or reduce block size.

• I want pixelation only as a hint Reduce strength to 40–80%.

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Glossary

• Pixelation / mosaic: turning detail into blocks by reducing resolution.
• Nearest-neighbor: scaling method that copies pixels (blocky, crisp).
• Bilinear smoothing: averaging method (smoother, cleaner colors).
• Sampling: how pixels are chosen/averaged when resizing.
• Strength: mix amount of the effect over the original.