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Remove the background
Upload a photo and the cutout runs in this browser.
- Upload a photo
- The background is removed automatically
- Download the transparent image
Up to 10 MB per image.
The first run downloads the cutout engine. Fine hair and thin edges can stay imperfect.
How it works
How to remove the background from an image
Choose your photo
Pick a JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, or BMP from your phone or computer, or drop it on the box above.
Let the AI cut it out
An AI model finds the person, pet, or product and erases everything behind it, right in this browser.
Download the transparent PNG
Save the cutout as a PNG with a transparent background, at the same size as your original.
Good to know
What people use a background remover for
Product photos
Put a product on a clean white or brand-colored background for an online store, a marketplace listing, or a catalog.
Profile pictures and headshots
Lift yourself out of a messy room and place the cutout on a solid color for LinkedIn, a resume, or a team page.
Slides and documents
Drop a person or an object into a slide, a flyer, or a report without a white box around it.
Social posts and thumbnails
Layer a cutout over text and color for a YouTube thumbnail, an Instagram post, or a story.
Stickers
Turn a photo of a friend, a pet, or a snack into a sticker for chat apps and design tools that accept PNG.
Collages and mockups
Combine several cutouts on one canvas, or test how a product looks on a different scene before a photo shoot.
Basics
What is a background remover?
A background remover is a tool that separates the main subject of a photo, such as a person, an animal, or a product, from everything behind it, and deletes the background. The result is a cutout on a transparent background, usually saved as a PNG so the empty area stays see-through.
Older tools made you trace the edge by hand with a lasso or an eraser. An AI background remover does that step for you: a trained segmentation model looks at the whole picture, decides which pixels belong to the subject, and builds a mask in a few seconds. You only choose the photo and download the result.
How it works
How it works in your browser
Choose a picture from this device. The cutout runs here: the first time, the page downloads the model, then it builds a mask and a PNG. The picture is not uploaded to Convertola. If the cutout cannot finish, the page shows an error instead of leaving the progress bar running. Download the PNG before you leave, because it exists only in this tab.
The engine is IMG.LY's open-source background removal library with an ISNet segmentation model, run through WebAssembly. That download is about 56 MB, and your browser keeps it in its cache, so the next photo starts much faster. Because the work happens on your own phone or computer, a large photo on an older phone can take longer than on a laptop.
Compare
Which photos work best
A photo with one clear subject works best, such as a person or a product in front of a room, a wall, or an outdoor scene. The page accepts JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, TIFF, and ICO. Hair, glass, and thin edges can keep a little of the old background or lose a soft edge. An animated GIF is read from its first frame.
For the cleanest edge, use a sharp, well-lit photo where the subject stands out from the background in color or brightness, and leave a little space between the subject and the frame. Crowded scenes, several people overlapping, and subjects that match the background color are the hardest cases for any automatic tool.
Good to know
What the transparent PNG is for
The download is a PNG with the same width and height as the picture you chose, and the background is transparent. Place it on another color, in a slide, or on a product page so the page shows through. The file name ends in -transparent.png.
Keep the file as a PNG while you work with it. A JPG cannot store transparency, so saving or converting the cutout to JPG fills the empty area with a solid color. If you need a lighter file for a website, the image converter can turn the PNG into a WebP, which also keeps transparency, or into an ICO for an icon.
Devices
Remove a background on iPhone, Android, Windows, and Mac
The background remover works in current versions of Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, so there is no app to install. On an iPhone or iPad, tap the box, choose a photo from your library or the Files app, and find the PNG in Files > Downloads. On Android, pick the photo from your gallery in Chrome; the PNG lands in your Downloads folder.
On a Windows PC or a Mac, drag the photo from File Explorer or Finder onto the box. To keep the transparency when you send the cutout through a chat app, share it as a file or a document, not as a photo, because many apps recompress photos to JPG.
Formats
After the cutout: new background, size, and format
To put the subject on a white or colored background, open the PNG in any slide, document, or photo editor and place a shape or a color layer behind it. To match the size a store or a profile asks for, resize or crop the PNG with the image converter, which also converts between PNG, WebP, JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, and ICO.
Working on video or audio instead? The MP3 converter uses the same in-browser approach to pull the sound out of a video or turn a recording into an MP3 without uploading it.
More detail in our guides: How to Remove the Background From an Image for Free and How to Make a Favicon (ICO) From a PNG.
Tools
Other free Convertola tools
FAQ
Background remover questions
Is this background remover really free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no credit system, and no watermark. You can remove the background from as many photos as you like, one at a time, and download each PNG at the same size as the original.
How do I remove the background from a picture for free?
Choose the photo in the box at the top of this page, wait for the AI cutout to finish, and click Download. You get a PNG with a transparent background. The first photo takes longer because the cutout engine downloads once.
Is the picture uploaded?
No. The cutout runs in this browser. The model downloads on the first run, and the picture stays on this device.
What file do I download?
A PNG with a transparent background, at the same width and height as the picture you chose. The file name ends in -transparent.png.
Which photos work best?
A picture with one clear subject, such as a person or a product. Fine hair and see-through edges can stay imperfect.
How do I make the background white or another color?
Download the transparent PNG, then place it on a white or colored shape in a slide, document, or photo editor. Saving the cutout as a JPG also fills the transparent area with a solid color, but you lose the transparency.
Can it remove the background from a video or an animated GIF?
No. It works on still images. An animated GIF is read from its first frame, and the result is a single transparent PNG.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
Yes. Open the page in Safari or Chrome, choose a photo from your library, and the PNG is saved to your downloads. Very large photos can take longer on a phone than on a computer.
What are the limits?
One picture at a time, up to 10 MB, in the image types named on the page. The result stays in this tab until you download it.
Get started
Ready to remove a background?
Jump back to the tool. Your file is processed on your device and never uploaded.