Face Privacy Blur

Protect Privacy.
Automatically.

EditLint AI's OpenCV DNN face detector finds every face in your footage and pixelates it, producing a new protected media file. Your originals are never touched.

Premiere Pro Final Cut Pro DaVinci Resolve GDPR Compliant Local Processing
Blur Modes

Three modes. One for every use case.

Different privacy requirements call for different treatments. Choose the mode that fits your compliance needs.

Pixelate

Classic block-style pixelation. The most recognisable anonymisation treatment, immediately understood by viewers as intentional privacy protection.

Default mode

Gaussian

Smooth, soft blurring. Looks more polished than pixelation, preferred for editorial contexts where a heavy pixel grid would feel out of place with the production value.

Editorial

Black Box

Complete face occlusion with a solid black rectangle. Maximum anonymisation. No residual facial data whatsoever. Required for the strictest privacy and legal compliance standards.

Maximum protection
How It Works

Frame-by-frame detection. New file output.

1

Detect Faces Frame by Frame

OpenCV's deep neural network (DNN) face detector runs across every frame of your footage, identifying face bounding boxes with confidence scoring. Detection works on partial faces, angled faces and faces in motion.

2

Apply Selected Blur Mode

Your chosen blur mode is applied to each detected face region, frame by frame. The blur region tracks the face's movement. No flickering or missed frames.. Confidence threshold is configurable to reduce false positives.

3

New Media File Written

The blurred output is written as a new media file alongside your original. The original clip is never modified. The protected file is automatically added to your project bin, ready to replace the original in your timeline.

Frame
By-frame face detection, no faces missed
3
Blur modes: Pixelate, Gaussian, Black Box
Safe
Original media never overwritten
GDPR & Privacy Compliance

Why face blur matters for video professionals

Under GDPR (EU 2016/679) and equivalent legislation globally, a person's face captured on video constitutes biometric personal data. Publishing, distributing, or archiving footage containing identifiable individuals without their explicit consent can expose organisations to significant fines, up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 million, whichever is higher.

For editors working with public space footage, news content, documentary material, corporate video, or any footage where subject consent cannot be confirmed for every individual, face anonymisation is often a legal requirement, not an optional extra.

  • News and journalism: crowd footage, protests, scenes of crime
  • Corporate / event video with non-consenting background individuals
  • Healthcare and social care documentation
  • Training videos with real individuals in sensitive situations
  • Documentary footage captured in public or semi-public spaces
  • Any footage distributed in EU, UK, or other privacy-law jurisdictions
Relevant Legal Framework
GDPR Article 4(14)
Biometric data means personal data resulting from specific technical processing relating to the physical characteristics of a natural person, including facial images.
GDPR Article 9
Processing of biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person is prohibited without a specific exemption or explicit consent.
GDPR Article 83
Infringements of the rules on biometric data shall be subject to administrative fines up to €20 million or 4% of annual worldwide turnover.
EditLint AI is not legal advice. This feature assists with a common compliance workflow. Consult your organisation's legal team for advice specific to your jurisdiction and use case.
Non-Destructive Workflow

The protected file is new. The original is untouched.

EditLint AI never overwrites your source media. The face-blurred output is always a new file, written to the same folder as your original with a _blurred suffix. Your original clip remains in your project bin and on disk.

This matters because requirements change. If a subject later provides consent and their face should be visible in an archive version, the original is still available. You're never locked into a permanent decision made during post.

  • Blurred file written as clip_name_blurred.mp4
  • Original clip untouched on disk and in project
  • Blurred file auto-imported to project bin
  • Swap into timeline with Replace Clip (NLE native feature)
  • Re-run at any time with a different blur mode
Project Bin, after face blur
interview_v3.mp4 Original
interview_v3_blurred.mp4 Protected
broll_crowd.mp4 Original
broll_crowd_blurred.mp4 Protected
Blurred files auto-imported and ready to replace originals in timeline.

Privacy compliance shouldn't be a manual job.

EditLint AI finds every face in your footage and blurs it automatically, on your machine, in minutes, with your original always safe.

No credit card required · Works inside your NLE · Cancel any time