How to Blur Text in a Screen Recording
November 3, 2026
Short answerLoad the recording into a browser blur tool, draw a box over each piece of text, use Pixelate with a high strength or a Solid block, and set the box's start and end time to match when the text is on screen.
Screen recordings leak more than people expect: an email address in a sidebar, a password in a URL, an API key in a terminal, a customer's name in a notification. Text is also harder to hide than faces, because a light blur often leaves it readable. Here is a reliable way to do it.
Step by step
- Open the blur editor and load your recording. It is processed in your browser, which matters when the video contains credentials.
- Scrub through the whole recording once and note every moment sensitive text appears.
- At the first one, drag a box over the text. Leave a margin around it so letter shapes at the edges are covered.
- Choose Solid for passwords, keys and tokens. Choose Pixelate with a high strength for names and emails if you prefer a softer look.
- Set the box's timing with Start here and End here. For a sidebar or header that's always visible, leave it covering the whole video.
- Repeat for each item, then play the result back at normal speed before you export.
Places people forget to check
- Browser address bar (tokens and IDs in URLs) and autocomplete dropdowns
- Notifications and toasts that pop up mid-recording
- Tab titles, bookmarks bar and the account avatar or email in the corner
- Terminal history, environment variables and .env files
- The first and last second of the recording, before you switched windows
- Shared screens in video calls: participant names and chat messages
Which effect is safe for text?
A solid block is the only effect that removes the information completely. Pixelate is safe when the blocks are larger than the letters; small blocks over short text like a 4-digit PIN can sometimes be guessed. A weak blur over large text can stay legible, so push the strength up and check by eye. More on that in can a blurred video be unblurred.
If the text scrolls, the box won't follow it. Cover the scrolling area with one larger box, or use several boxes with consecutive time ranges. For whole screens and monitors, see the guide on pixelating a video online for strength settings.
Exports are free with a small watermark. For a client-facing demo you can remove it for $0.99, or get a $19.99 lifetime license if you make recordings regularly.
FAQ
Is blur enough to hide a password? Use a solid block for passwords, keys and tokens. Blur and pixelate hide text well at high strength, but a solid block leaves nothing to recover.
Can I blur text for just a few seconds? Yes. Each box has its own start and end time, so it only appears while the text is on screen.
Is it safe to load a recording with credentials into a website? With Blur The Video, the video is processed in your browser and never uploaded. Still, rotate any credential that was visible in an earlier shared version.
What if the text moves or scrolls? There's no automatic tracking, so cover the area it scrolls through with a larger box, or chain several boxes with back-to-back time ranges.