YouTube’s New Blurring Tool Lets You Blur Out Anything You Want Concealed Even If It’s Moving
YouTube has added a new custom blurring tool that will make it easier for video creators to provide anonymity where needed. This is in addition to an existing tool that gives content creators the ability to blur all faces in their video—now you can blur out anything you want in your video, even moving objects.
"Whether you want to blur sensitive information such as a license plate or cover up a wardrobe malfunction without reshooting an entire scene, the new Custom Blurring tool will let you blur objects throughout your video, right within YouTube," YouTube stated in a blog post announcing the feature update.
The custom blurring tool is only available on the desktop version of YouTube at the moment. To use it, just choose the video you want to edit and select Custom Blurring from within the Blurring Effects tab of YouTube's Enhancements tool. From there, you can draw a box around whatever it is you want blurred.
YouTube's fancy algorithm will ensure that the object stays blurred even as it moves around the screen. In theory, you shouldn't have to do anything else—just draw a box and you're done. That said, we haven't tested the feature extensively to see if it works quite as well as advertised. However, if things don't work out the way you expect, you can move the blurred area, resize it, and choose when the blur starts and stops. YouTube also provides a "Lock" option to blur things that don't move.
The neat thing about integrating this tool into YouTube is if you forget to blur something before uploading, you can hop right in and edit it as opposed to editing the original clip and re-uploading a massive file all over again.
"Whether you want to blur sensitive information such as a license plate or cover up a wardrobe malfunction without reshooting an entire scene, the new Custom Blurring tool will let you blur objects throughout your video, right within YouTube," YouTube stated in a blog post announcing the feature update.
The custom blurring tool is only available on the desktop version of YouTube at the moment. To use it, just choose the video you want to edit and select Custom Blurring from within the Blurring Effects tab of YouTube's Enhancements tool. From there, you can draw a box around whatever it is you want blurred.
YouTube's fancy algorithm will ensure that the object stays blurred even as it moves around the screen. In theory, you shouldn't have to do anything else—just draw a box and you're done. That said, we haven't tested the feature extensively to see if it works quite as well as advertised. However, if things don't work out the way you expect, you can move the blurred area, resize it, and choose when the blur starts and stops. YouTube also provides a "Lock" option to blur things that don't move.
The neat thing about integrating this tool into YouTube is if you forget to blur something before uploading, you can hop right in and edit it as opposed to editing the original clip and re-uploading a massive file all over again.
