# What is the easiest way to censor a piece of video? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645 "2005-12-14T21:48:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645/1 "2005-12-14T21:48:51Z")
I have an MPEG file that I would like to censor. More specifically, I want to put a block or a rectangular “blur area” over a certain portion of the video for a certain time. I want to be able to move the “censor block” around on a frame-by-frame basis. What is the easiest way to do this and what software do I need? It doesn’t matter if the software is free or not. Thanks! –FCOD ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645/2 "2005-12-14T22:03:44Z")
Adobe Premiere should be able to do this. There might be a filter for Virtualdub (freeware) that will do it. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645/3 "2005-12-15T01:30:23Z")
Microsoft Video Editor, which ships with XP, might do it by creating a transparent title overlay. I haven’t done this myself. You would have to create an overlay for each position that you need to put the block in, so that could become tedious. I don’t know of a video editor that allows you to actually edit individual frames the same way you can edit a still photo in Photoshop, but I wouldn’t be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645/4 "2005-12-15T03:09:12Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I don’t know of a video editor that allows you to actually edit individual frames the same way you can edit a still photo in Photoshop, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Premiere does this, or at least it lets you split out frames for editing in a graphics editor. A friend of mine did some major video editing with Premiere a few years ago and told me about it then. Don’t remember the specifics of how he edited the individual frames. ---
**Author:** ![cbarnes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@cbarnes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbarnes)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645/5 "2005-12-15T03:31:53Z")
I don’t know about current versions, but in the past Vegas was quite good for things of this nature and as a general editing suite. You can get a trial for it [here](http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?pid=965) Give it a try. -Chris ---
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-censor-a-piece-of-video/335645/6 "2005-12-15T14:25:37Z")
Thanks everyone! I think I will try using Premiere. –FCOD