Pico ImagePico Image

Add Mosaic Online

Add mosaic effect to specific image regions to protect privacy.

What is Mosaic Effect?

A mosaic effect replaces the fine detail in a selected part of a photo with a regular pattern of colored blocks. Unlike a soft blur that spreads pixels into neighboring areas, pixelation makes the chosen area visibly unreadable while leaving the rest of the image sharp. This makes it useful whenever you need to publish a real-world photograph but should not reveal every detail. You can cover a face in a street scene, a child in a school event, a vehicle license plate, a house number, a computer screen, a medical label, or a document identifier. Mosaic is also practical for product mockups, user-interface tutorials, and news images where one small piece of evidence must be hidden without weakening the context around it. Select only the regions that need protection, choose a block size that remains opaque at the final display size, and preview the result before downloading. Because the tool works in your browser, you can prepare a shareable copy without sending the original image to a server.

Why Use Mosaic Effect?

Mosaic is a deliberate redaction step, not simply a decorative filter. It lets you show where something happened while removing the identifying detail that could expose a person or account. This is especially important for screenshots, support tickets, public dashboards, classroom work, and social posts that contain incidental private information. A rectangular selection is quick for a single plate or ID number, while several selections let you handle a group of faces or multiple labels in one image. The block size gives you control over the balance between privacy and context: smaller blocks preserve more color and shape, while larger blocks communicate clearly that the information is intentionally hidden. For high-risk material, use a large enough pattern that individual letters, digits, and facial features cannot be reconstructed at the size in which you will publish the image.

Protect faces and bystanders in public photos
Redact IDs, addresses, screens, and account details
Hide vehicle license plates without cropping the scene
Create intentional pixel-art and censor-style effects

How to Add Mosaic

Start with the highest-resolution copy you plan to share. Upload it, then drag a rectangle around each face, plate, label, or other sensitive region. You can select multiple areas and refine the rectangles before processing. Use the block-size control while watching the smallest version of your image that people will see: a pattern that looks strong at full resolution can become readable in a thumbnail. Keep a narrow margin inside the selection so edges, reflections, and nearby characters are covered. When the result looks safe, apply the effect and download the processed copy. Keep the original offline so you can make a different redaction later; mosaic is intentionally destructive and cannot be undone after export.

1

Upload the original photo or screenshot you want to publish

2

Drag over every face, plate, number, screen, or label that must be hidden

3

Choose a block size that stays unreadable in the final thumbnail and full-size view

4

Review the edges, apply the mosaic, and download a separate redacted copy

Frequently Asked Questions

Click and drag directly on the preview to draw a rectangle around a sensitive area. Make the rectangle slightly larger than the text, face, or plate so that edge pixels and reflections are covered. You can create several rectangles in the same image, for example one around each person in a crowd and another around a parked-car plate. Before applying the effect, check the entire preview for small details outside your first selection.
Use the smallest pattern that still makes the information impossible to read at the size where you will share it. Blocks around 5–10 pixels can look subtle in a large original but may reveal shapes in a compressed social-media preview. Blocks around 20–50 pixels create a stronger, unmistakable redaction for faces, license plates, and documents. When in doubt, choose the larger setting and inspect both the full image and a small thumbnail.
Use Clear Selection to remove the current rectangles and start a new selection pass. It is useful when you discover that a rectangle is too small, covers the wrong object, or needs to be moved away from an important detail. The selection is only a guide until you apply the effect, so you can clear and redraw as often as needed before processing.
Yes. You can upload several images and mark the sensitive regions in each preview separately. The same block-size setting is used for the batch, which is helpful when preparing a consistent set of event photos or screenshots. Review every image individually: faces and plates move between frames, so a rectangle that protects one photo may not protect the next one. Download the processed copies and keep the originals separate.
No. Applying mosaic replaces the selected pixels with blocks and the exported file does not contain the original detail for that region. Treat the result as a permanent redaction: keep an untouched original in a private location, and create a new export if the selection or block size was not strong enough. Mosaic is safer than simply drawing a translucent shape because it removes the underlying visual information from the shared copy, but you should still check metadata and surrounding context before publishing sensitive material.

More Image Tools

Explore other powerful tools for your image editing needs

Compress Image

Reduce file size

Resize Image

Change dimensions

Crop Image

Cut out area

Convert Format

Change format

Photo Editor

Edit photos

Rotate Image

Rotate image

Flip Image

Horizontal/Vertical

Add Watermark

Add watermark

Add Border

Add image border

Rounded Corners

Add rounded corners

Filters

Brightness/Contrast

Blur Face

Hide faces

Remove Background

Remove BG

Enhance Image

AI upscale

Add Text

Add text to image

Collage

Combine multiple images

HTML to Image

Webpage to image

GIF to Image

Extract frames

Trim Image

Remove empty edges

Batch Rename Images

Safely rename files in bulk

Circle Crop

Crop images into circles

Black & White

Convert images to grayscale

Split Image

Cut an image into a grid

Merge Images

Combine images into one

Change DPI

Set image DPI metadata

Image to Base64

Encode images as Base64

Image to PDF

Combine images into one PDF

HEIC to JPG

Convert iPhone HEIC photos to JPG

EXIF Remover

View and strip hidden photo metadata, including GPS location

Favicon Generator

Full icon set plus HTML

Color Palette

Extract colors from an image

Base64 to Image

Decode Base64 back to an image

HEIC to PNG

Convert iPhone HEIC photos to lossless PNG

Text Behind Image

Put text behind the subject of a photo, entirely in your browser

Color Picker

Get the HEX, RGB and HSL of any pixel

Signature Maker

Draw a signature and download it as a transparent PNG

Signature Background Remover

Ink from paper, on transparency

Transparent Background Maker

Make a background transparent