Pixelization
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pixelization is a video- and image-editing technique where an image, or part of it, is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily a censorship method. The pixelization effect is a standard graphics filter, available in all but the most basic bitmap graphics editors.
Pixelization alternatives
For most censorship purposes, however, pixelization has been mostly supplanted by simply blurring the image, so as to appear one is looking at the image through fogged glass. For equivalent censorship, black rectangular or square boxes known as censor bars may be used to cover parts of images completely, for example a black box over the eyes can be used rather than pixelating the entire face.
A drawback of pixelization is that any differences between the large pixels can be exploited in moving images to reconstruct the original, unpixelated image. Squinting at a pixelated, 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 less aesthetic.
