Image edge detection is a process of locating the edge of an image which is important in finding the approximate absolute gradient magnitude at each point I of an input grayscale image. The problem of getting an appropriate absolute gradient magnitude for edges lies in the method used. The Sobel operator performs a 2-D spatial gradient measurement on images. Transferring a 2-D pixel array into statistically uncorrelated data set enhances the removal of redundant data, as a result, reduction of the amount of data is required to represent a digital image. The Sobel edge detector uses a pair of 3 x 3 convolution masks, one estimating gradient in the x-direction and the other estimating gradient in y-direction. The Sobel detector is incredibly sensitive to noise in pictures, it effectively highlight them as edges. Hence, Sobel operator is recommended in massive data communication found in data transfer.