There is no shortage of video redaction software options to choose from and most of them offer some version of automated blurring plus video editing capabilities. The problem is making sure that the tool will work for your organisation in real-life scenarios.
A lot of products look good until you hit the cases that require painful workarounds, such as handling sensitive environments or legacy video formats.
The best video redaction software will have:
Automation that holds up in messy footage
AI should do most of the work, but you need to be able to blur the elements that AI doesn’t automatically recognize as sensitive data, such as signage or name tags.
Ability to process videos faster than the required deadline
All automated video redaction tools can blur out personal data well before the deadline.
However, in some cases, organisations need to be able to react to incidents in minutes to share compliant footage with law enforcement or other agencies.
Secure data handling by design
For industries with strict data privacy regulations, cloud-based solutions aren’t a compliant option. Instead, they need an on-premise tool that doesn’t expose personal data, such as healthcare-related information, to additional risks.
Ability to work with different types of video formats
Most organisations may need to combine different types of footage in a single video at some point (CCTV, body-worn, dashcam, mobile uploads, proprietary players). The software needs to be able to handle those scenarios.
You should be looking for those four capabilities when evaluating video redaction tools. When you evaluate a product, include a variety of videos with different types of footage you’ll need to be able to process (low-quality lighting, with and without audio, combining different types of personal data or file formats).
In this article, we’ll cover four different video redaction software categories, starting with our own tool, Identity Cloak.
Note: Identity Cloak was built to deliver the four capabilities above. You can read about it below orstart a 7-day free trial. If you’re evaluating different solutions, download this video redaction software comparison template.
#Automated video redaction with Identity Cloak
Identity Cloak is video redaction software designed to blur out personal data without creating a backlog for already busy teams.
In this article, we’ll be discussing the desktop version. For Milestone users, Identity Cloak is also available as plug-ins for XProtect.
The desktop version is built to directly address the four requirements above:
Automated blurring
Fast processing
Secure data handling
Different file types support
Below, we’ll explore each one in detail.
#Automated workflow that can handle complex footage
When redacting crowded footage or low-quality videos, you need AI that can consistently detect and track people.
Not all video redaction tools perform equally well when redacting footage with people crossing paths, partially hidden faces or bodies, and low-quality videos.
Identity Cloak automates detection and tracking and also provides flexible manual tools to finalize redaction.
Auto-detection and tracking for faces, bodies, and license plates
Identity Cloak uses AI to automatically recognise and track sensitive items (faces, bodies, license plates) so you’re not drawing boxes for every frame. You can use face/body/license plate blur modes, full screen blur, or inverse blur mode, and then review before export (see feature overview here).
#Manual redaction tools for screens and objects
For on-screen personal data, such as printed forms, badges, posters, or device screens, Identity Cloak supports manual blurring.
If your team needs step-by-step guidance for manual adjustments, the Help Centre includes detailed workflow breakdowns (for example, manual adjustment instructions).
#Fast changes during review
Instead of selecting the same section in every frame, Identity Cloak makes it easy to adjust settings for the whole video. You can also easily change the blur size and density or switch between blur modes with one click.
#Fast processing to prevent backlogs
If the software doesn’t change your capacity, it’s just a nicer video editor.
In many redaction workflows, the time sink is not only the blur itself. It’s exporting from your VMS, converting formats, checking the redacted footage, and re-exporting again. Identity Cloak is designed around a short, repeatable workflow: import, trim, run auto-tracking, adjust, finalise, review, and export.
#Trim footage inside the tool
One of the easiest ways to reduce the time it takes to redact your video is to remove irrelevant parts of footage. Identity Cloak supports trimming, so teams can focus on the relevant time window and follow data minimisation practices.
You can also crop out irrelevant parts of the footage to only redact parts of the recorded scene that are relevant to the request or the incident.
#Redact spoken personal information inside the tool
When the clip includes spoken names, addresses, or health information, it also needs to be redacted. Identity Cloak supports audio redaction as a built-in part of the process, so that you don’t have to use a separate tool for that.
#Increase the speed of review and accurately predict your redaction timeline
While what “fast” means depends on your footage and hardware, an average Identity Cloak user completes video redaction in under 12 minutes.
Here are some examples from our customers
A MerseyRail Data and Access Support Officer reported redacting an 8-minute clip start-to-finish in about 10 minutes.
Nottingham City Transport completes a 1-minute video in 8 minutes, including uploading the video, processing and exporting.
The numbers will be different for longer videos, and you’ll still need to combine footage from different sources into a single clip.
Here are the recommended hardware requirements for Identity Cloak:
Intel Core i7 10th gen onwards
NVIDIA T1000/A4000/RTX3050/RTX3060/RTX3090 class GPU
16GB RAM
Windows 10/11 Pro.
Identity Cloak can also be installed on a virtual machine as long as it has GPU access.
#Privacy by design
Identity Cloak was designed to comply with strict data privacy regulations. It’s built around three requirements: keep original footage intact, make redacted exports safe to share, and keep processing in your control.
#Original footage left unchanged for data integrity
Identity Cloak leaves the original file unchanged and exports a new redacted video (AVI or MP4).
#In-house processing and minimal data transfer
Identity Cloak is installed on your device within your secure network. Facit doesn’t transfer video or personal data to its servers; only minimal handshake/licensing data is exchanged (license key, device name, and user experience data). It can also be completely air-gapped.
For teams that need to demonstrate compliance controls, Identity Cloak can provide audit logs.
#Processing stays in your control
Your team can review redacted footage in-house and immediately make any necessary changes. This is important for organisations that need a fast turnaround to share incident footage, or don’t want to spend time reviewing outsourced footage and requesting corrections that may push them past the deadline.
#Works with different file types and formats
You should be able to run redaction across CCTV exports, dashcam clips, bodycam footage, mobile videos, and proprietary-player recordings without having to convert files.
Identity Cloak is designed to work across mixed sources:
Import common formats directly
Identity Cloak supports MP4 and AVI import and exportRun screen recorder for legacy files
It comes with a built-in screen recorder for converting footage from other file types / proprietary players
API integration to add redaction to a bigger workflow
For teams building custom evidence workflows, Identity Cloak also offers a secure API integration option hosted in AWS or Azure.
If you want to see the desktop product workflow end-to-end, start here.
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Other video redaction software options (and where they usually break)
Here are three more common approaches to video redaction — you can read more about them below and check the downsides before you start testing one of them.
#Manual editors
These tools can work for short videos, but they create backlogs fast because redaction needs to be done frame by frame.
If you’re already missing deadlines or have your team members spend too much time on blurring faces instead of other tasks, you’ll need a workflow where AI handles the bulk of redaction and the reviewer can quickly modify the blur without re-doing the whole video.
#Built-in VMS editors
Just as manual editors built for creative video editing projects, built-in editors can work for shorter, simpler projects, but are likely going to require a lot of manual work, which makes them less useful for higher-volume or longer video redaction projects.
#Cloud-based video redaction software
Some teams like the convenience of cloud solutions, but it adds data privacy risks. Make sure you prepare requirements around where processing happens, who can access unredacted footage, and how you prove defensibility later.
#Try out Identity Cloak on your footage
Start a 7-day free trial (no card required) to run Identity Cloak on your footage and confirm real turnaround times for your team.
