Why Do People Blur License Plates? (And Should You?)

People blur license plates mostly to avoid being found, copied or scammed. A plate number on its own is not secret: anyone who sees your car on the road can read it. What changes online is that a photo of your plate can be saved, searched and combined with everything else in the picture, by people you will never meet.

What someone can do with your plate number

• Find out where you live, sometimes. In the US, the Driver's Privacy Protection Act stops most people from getting your name and address from the DMV. But a plate in a photo, next to your house, your street sign or your usual parking spot, gives that away without any database.
• Clone your plate. Criminals copy real plates onto similar cars to dodge tolls, speed cameras and parking tickets. The fines then arrive at your address. Clean, front-on photos of a plate on a car of a common make and colour are the easiest to copy.
• Run a vehicle history scam. A seller's plate (or VIN) in a listing lets a scammer pretend to be the seller, or use the details to make a fake listing of your car.
• Track your movements. A plate that shows up in your posts from the gym, your workplace and home tells a stalker or an angry stranger where to find you.
• Connect you to a video. If you post dashcam footage of a road-rage incident, your plate (or the other driver's) ties a real person to the clip.

Most people never face any of this. Blurring is cheap insurance.

When people blur license plates

Selling a car online. Buyers want to see the car, not the plate. Many dealers and private sellers blur it in every listing photo. You can give the plate or VIN to a serious buyer privately.

Dashcam and street videos. Channels that post driving footage blur other drivers' plates to stay out of disputes, avoid privacy complaints and, in some countries, follow data protection rules. In much of Europe a number plate can count as personal data under GDPR when it can be linked to a person.

Car meets, builds and road trips. Enthusiasts posting their own car blur their plate so the post can't be traced back to their home.

Real estate and street photography. A photo of a house or a street often catches cars in driveways.

News and true crime content. Plates of bystanders' cars are blurred to avoid pointing at the wrong person.

Is it legal to blur your plate online?

Yes. Blurring a plate in a photo or video you post is legal everywhere we know of. What is illegal in most places is covering or obscuring the physical plate on your car: tinted covers, "anti-camera" sprays and blur films sold as "license plate blur covers" can get you a ticket, because the plate must stay readable on the road. Blur the picture, not the car.

Should you blur yours?

Blur it if the photo shows anything else that locates you (your house, your street, your workplace), if you are selling the car, or if the post could attract angry attention. It matters less for a car show photo of a car that is not parked at home. If in doubt, blur: nobody needs to read your plate to enjoy the picture.

How to blur a license plate in a photo

1. Open the free license plate blur.
2. Upload the photo and drag a box over each plate.
3. Choose black box or strong pixelate (a light blur on a large, sharp plate can sometimes still be read).
4. Download. The photo never leaves your device.

If there are people in the shot, you can blur their faces in the same photo with the photo face blur. For faces in videos, use FaceBlur's video tool; automatic plate blur for video is planned for our upcoming Cloud mode.

Quick answers

Can someone find my address from my license plate? Not legally from the DMV in most cases, but a plate photographed near your home can give your address away on its own.

Why do YouTubers blur license plates? To avoid privacy complaints, disputes with other drivers and, in Europe, data protection issues.

Is a license plate personal information? In the EU and UK, a plate that can be linked to a person is usually treated as personal data. In the US it is not private, but access to the owner's details is restricted.