# BishopFox/unredacter

Never ever ever use pixelation as a redaction technique

Repository: https://github.com/BishopFox/unredacter
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/unredacter
Language: TypeScript
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2024-03-15T00:35:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1776, "days_push": 902, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8382, forks 808 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:20.698451+00:00)

## What it is
Unredacter is an Electron-based desktop tool that demonstrates how pixelated redactions in images can be reversed by brute-force guessing the original text. It renders candidate characters with matching CSS styling and compares them against the pixelated image to recover hidden content.

## Use cases
- recover text hidden behind pixelation in a screenshot
- demonstrate why pixelation is unsafe for redacting sensitive data
- test whether a redacted image leaks its underlying text
- security research on redaction techniques
- crack pixelated secrets from leaked screenshots

## When to choose
- you need to verify a pixelated redaction can be reversed
- you're doing security research or writing about redaction pitfalls
- you have a pixelated image and know the approximate font and styling

## When to avoid
- you need automated, streamlined redaction cracking without manual CSS tuning
- you need to redact images securely yourself (use solid black boxes instead)
- you need a production-grade forensic tool with a polished workflow

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, image-processing, cryptography, developer-tools
- domain: security, privacy, image-processing, developer-tools
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: redaction, pixelation, deanonymization, electron-app, security-research, image-analysis, desktop, electron

## Member repositories
- BishopFox/unredacter (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:20.698451+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:27:27.728453+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/BishopFox/unredacter (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:20.698451+00:00, sha bc78dbf043af)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.