We know how important it can be to protect the privacy of those represented in your footage, or to hide sensitive information captured during a screenshare. Reduct's Advanced and Enterprise plans include powerful redaction functionality, which allows you to mask out areas of the video, and/or mute the audio, for a specific time-range, protecting any PII (Personal Identifiable Information) you want to ensure is removed from your output.

Redactions are applied to a time range, defined by a selection on the transcript. Select transcript text, and at the top of the panel, select "Redact selection" and then choose either Mute audio or Blur video, depending on the type of redaction you need.

You can access the same redaction functionality from a recording or from the reels editor, with the redaction being applied to the underlying source recording (and propagating to anywhere else that bit of video is used). Adjustments to video redactions can only be made from the recording.

Note: Redactions are a premium feature, and may not be available with every plan. See our pricing page, or navigate in the app to Settings > Plan for more details.

After selecting transcript text, clicking on "Redact selection," and then choosing the Blur video option, a window with a specialized interface will appear. Once this video redaction window opens and loads the preview, you can adjust the size and location of the redaction mask, and then apply the redaction to the footage.

Note that the time range you defined by selecting transcript text is represented on the timeline under the preview by the two diamond "keyframes." You can preview the video including a couple of seconds before and after your redaction begins and ends, so that you can check whether everything that should be hidden, is. You can drag the keyframes forwards or backwards on the timeline if you need to fine-tune the time range your redaction applies to.

You can play the video and preview your redaction by pressing the button, as shown above, or using the space bar. This lets you check that the object being redacted does not move outside of the masked area. (if it does, check the section below for instructions!)

Once the redaction is applied, the masked area will be covered with a "secure blur", which only uses data from outside of the redacted area.

Learn more about our unique "Secure blur" feature and how it helps you keep your redactions truly redacted.

If you want to redact a moving object (such as the face of a walking person), first select the time period of the video you wish to redact - from when they enter the frame, until they leave it. When the redaction window appears, place the mask over the object to be redacted.

Play the video and pause when the object moves out of the mask's frame. You can do this by using the play/pause button or by pressing the spacebar.

Once paused, drag the mask and place it over the object again; you can resize it as well if desired. This action will create a "keyframe" on the timeline below the video. When you play the video from the start, the mask will smoothly transition between keyframes and follow the object.

Repeat these steps—playing the video and pausing when the object moves out of the mask, and adjusting it as needed. Add as many keyframes as necessary to achieve your desired result. You can click on an existing keyframe to adjust the mask if you don't want to create a new keyframe. The motion will be smoother if you have less keyframes.

You can create multiple, overlapping redactions, and there are no limits to the number of redactions in a recording. If there are multiple objects to redact in the same frame (such as two people in a shot), you will need to redact one object at a time. First, position the mask over one of the objects to redact it, and make any necessary adjustments.

After applying the redaction, reselect the same time period (or a different, overlapping one, if the two objects are in frame for different lengths of time) and repeat the operation for the second object. The previously redacted area will now appear blurred in the preview, while you mask and redact the other object. Apply the

A video redaction can be edited after it has been applied. Although you can create a redaction from either a reel or a recording, it is always applied to the source recording in question, and can only be edited from the source recording itself.

When viewing a recording, you will see an indication in the margin to the right of the transcript where redactions have been applied. Click on the note, and the redaction window will open. Make any desired changes, and click "Update redaction," or click on "Remove redaction," as needed.

Audio redaction is also applied to a selected time range, and will mute the audio, and remove any transcript (and captions based on the transcript), for that period of time. The transcript for the selected range will be replaced by grey squares.

Note that other than an immediate undo, you won't be able to un-redact the audio later.

Editors can adjust the size and location of the redaction mask by clicking on the annotation in the margin; commenters can see that a redaction has been applied, but cannot edit or remove it. The redactions will be included in any shared reels or exported video rendered after the redaction has been applied.