Overview
Introduction
Screen recordings and clips turned into GIFs sometimes contain a name, face, or sensitive detail you need to cover before sharing. This tool covers a fixed region in every frame with either a solid block or heavy pixelation.
Everything is decoded, edited, and re-encoded locally in your browser, so the original file never leaves your device.
What Is GIF Censor?
A region-based censoring tool for animated GIFs: you specify a rectangle by its x, y, width, and height, choose solid-color or pixelate mode, and that same rectangle is covered on every frame of the animation.
It mirrors the same two obscuring techniques this codebase's PNG censor and pixelator tools already use, applied consistently across a whole GIF instead of one still image.
How GIF Censor Works
The GIF is decoded into fully composited RGBA frames. For each frame, the tool either fills the specified rectangle with a flat RGB color (solid mode) or averages it into mosaic blocks of a chosen size (pixelate mode, reusing this category's shared pixelation helper).
The modified frames are then re-encoded into a new GIF with the same frame timing and loop count as the original.
When To Use GIF Censor
Use it before sharing a screen-recording GIF that shows a name, account number, or other sensitive on-screen text or image in a fixed spot.
Use pixelate mode instead of solid when you want to keep a rough visual impression of the covered area rather than a flat block.
Often used alongside GIF Part Hider, GIF Pixelator and GIF Watermark Remover.
Features
Advantages
- Applies the same coverage consistently to every single frame, so nothing slips through on individual frames.
- Offers both a fully opaque solid option and a softer pixelate option from one tool.
- Runs entirely client-side, so sensitive footage is never uploaded anywhere.
Limitations
- The region is fixed across all frames; it doesn't track a moving subject.
- Coordinates must be entered manually since there's no automatic detection of faces or text.
- Re-encoding quantizes colors to this category's shared 216-color-plus-transparency palette.
Examples
Best Practices & Notes
Best Practices
- Double-check the region against the GIF's actual pixel dimensions before rendering; an out-of-bounds rectangle is rejected with an error.
- Use solid mode when you need guaranteed full coverage; use pixelate mode only when partial visibility is acceptable.
- If the subject moves across the frame over time, consider whether a single fixed rectangle is wide enough to cover it throughout.
Developer Notes
Pixelate mode delegates to the exact same `pixelateRegion` helper exported from `gif-pixelator.ts`, so both tools share one tested mosaic implementation; solid mode is a small local fill routine over the shared `PixelBuffer` type.
GIF Censor Use Cases
- Covering a name, handle, or account number visible in a recorded GIF before sharing it publicly
- Obscuring a small on-screen watermark or logo in a fixed position
- Softly pixelating a distracting or sensitive detail while keeping the rest of the animation intact
Common Mistakes
- Entering a region that extends past the GIF's actual width or height, which fails validation.
- Using pixelate mode when full, guaranteed coverage (solid mode) was actually required.
Tips
- If you're unsure of exact coordinates, check the GIF's dimensions shown after upload and estimate the rectangle proportionally.
- Combine with the GIF Metainfo Deleter afterward if the original file's metadata (comments, extra extensions) also needs to be stripped.