Pixelization or mosaic is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship. The effect is a standard graphics filter, available in all but the most basic bitmap graphics editors.
As censorship
A familiar example of pixelization can be found in television news and documentary productions, in which vehicle license plates and faces of suspects at crime scenes are routinely obscured to maintain the presumption of innocence, such as how it appears in the television series COPS. Bystanders and others who do not sign release forms are also customarily pixelized. Footage of nudity is likewise obscured in some media: before the watershed in many countries, in newspapers or general magazines, or in places in which the public cannot avoid seeing the image. Drug references, as well as gestures considered obscene may also be censored in this manner. Pixelization is not usually used for this purpose in films, DVDs, subscription television services, or pornography. When obscene language is censored by an audible bleep, the mouth of the speaker may be pixelized to prevent lip reading, such as in COPS. Graphic injuries and excess blood may also be pixelized. Pixelization may also be used to avoid unintentional product placement, or to hide elements that would date a broadcast, such as date and time stamps on home video submissions. Censorship for such purposes is most common on reality television series.
A black rectangular or square box may be simply be used to occlude parts of images completely. Censor bars were extensively used as a graphic device in the January 2012protests against SOPA and PIPA. A drawback of pixelization is that any differences between the large pixels can be exploited in moving images to reconstruct the original, unpixelized image; squinting at a pixelized, moving image can sometimes achieve a similar result. In both cases, integration of the large pixels over time allows smaller, more accurate pixels to be constructed in a still image result. Completely obscuring the censored area with pixels of a constant color or pixels of random colors escapes this drawback but can be more aesthetically jarring. An additional drawback, when pixelization is used to reduce the repulsing, disturbing or, more generally shocking, aspect of an image, is that all information contained in the pixelized area are lost for the audience. Other visual processing techniques, on the other hand can help reduce the shocking aspect of images or videos while preserving most of the information of the media.
International legal standards
is obscured on television networks in the United States. Japanese pornography laws require that genitals in films and other forms of adult media be obscured. In Thailand, restrictions are placed on television broadcast depiction of cigarettes being smoked, alcohol being consumed, or guns being pointed at people. Pixelization is one method of censoring this content; otherwise, censor bars are used. In the Philippines, pixelization is also used if there are scenes of naked people or cadavers, bloody depiction of death by any means and exposure of innards, and the finger gesture, among objectionable content. However, nudity and some bloody scenes are cut entirely and pointing of guns or blades to oneself or others are cropped.
