How to Make a Background Transparent (Free)

To make a background transparent, open our free background remover, drop in your photo, and download the result as a PNG. The AI finds the subject and removes everything behind it, on your own device, so the photo is not uploaded. Macs, iPhones and Microsoft Office have built-in options too, and the steps for each are below.

Whatever you use, save the result as a PNG (or WebP). A JPG cannot store transparent areas, so they turn into a solid colour, usually white or black.

What a transparent background means

A transparent background is an area of the image with no colour at all, so whatever is behind the image shows through. It is how logos sit cleanly on coloured websites, and how product cut-outs and stickers are made.

Image apps show transparent areas as a grey and white checkerboard. The checkerboard is not part of your image. It is just a way to show “nothing here”.

Method 1: Make a background transparent in your browser (free)

It runs in your web browser, so there is nothing to install.

  1. Open the background remover.
  2. Drop your photo in the box, or click to choose it. JPG, PNG and WebP work.
  3. Wait while the tool finds the subject and cuts it out.
  4. Keep Transparent selected, or pick a solid colour instead.
  5. Click Download PNG.

The result keeps the size of your photo, up to 3,000 pixels on the longest side. There is no sign-up and no watermark.

Our test: what to expect

On 12 November 2026 we ran two photos from Wikimedia Commons through the tool in Chrome on a Windows 11 PC, on a connection that tested at about 16 Mbps download.

The first photo is slower, because of a one-time download. The tool runs an AI model inside your browser, so the first time it fetches about 59 MB of files: a 44 MB model and a 15 MB engine. Your browser then keeps them. In our first test these files came from our own web server and the first photo took about 7½ minutes. We then moved the files to a faster delivery network (jsDelivr), and in a repeat test with an empty cache the first photo took about 42 seconds.

After that, each photo took about 5 seconds. A 1600 × 1598 pixel cat photo and a 700 × 577 pixel dog photo each finished in about 4.8 seconds.

How good was the cut-out? On the cat photo, the face, ears and fur came out cleanly, and even the fine whiskers were kept. One blurry, out-of-focus area at the edge of the photo was only partly removed and stayed semi-transparent. The downloaded PNG was 2.6 MB.

So: on a slow or metered connection, start the first photo on Wi-Fi and allow a minute or so. After that it is quick.

Method 2: On a Mac (built in)

Recent versions of macOS can remove a background straight from the Finder, as described in Apple’s guide to Quick Actions:

  1. Control-click the image in the Finder or on your desktop.
  2. Choose Quick Actions, click More, then choose Remove Background.

If you do not see it, Apple’s guide explains that the Quick Actions on offer depend on the file type and the extensions turned on, and that you can add more by choosing More > Customise.

Method 3: On an iPhone

The Photos app can lift the subject off its background, according to Apple’s iPhone guide:

  1. Open the photo in full screen.
  2. Touch and hold the subject until an outline appears around it.
  3. Tap Copy to paste the cut-out into another app, or Share to send or save it. You can also tap Add Sticker.

This is quick for sharing a cut-out in a message or note. If you need a transparent PNG file to reuse, a browser tool like ours is the simpler route.

Method 4: In Word, PowerPoint or Excel

Microsoft Office has a Remove Background tool for pictures inside a document, explained in Microsoft’s guide:

  1. Select the picture, then choose Picture Format > Remove Background.
  2. The area Office plans to remove turns magenta. Use Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove to correct it.
  3. Click Keep Changes.
  4. To save the cut-out as its own file, right-click it and choose Save as Picture, then pick PNG.

Microsoft notes that this does not work on vector files such as SVG.

Which format keeps transparency?

Format Transparent background? Best for
PNG Yes Logos, cut-outs, screenshots, anything you will place on another background
WebP Yes Websites, where smaller files matter
JPG / JPEG No Photos with a normal background
PDF Yes, if made from a transparent image Documents. Our PNG to PDF converter keeps transparency

If you save a cut-out as JPG, the transparent area is filled in and lost. Our guide to JPG vs PNG shows what happens to transparency in each format.

Tips for a cleaner cut-out

  • Choose photos with one clear subject, such as a person, product or pet.
  • Make the subject stand out. A subject in a different colour from the background cuts out more cleanly than, say, a white mug on a white table.
  • Use sharp photos. In our test, the in-focus parts were cut cleanly, while a blurry patch was only partly removed.
  • Check the edges on a dark and a light background before you use the image. Our tool lets you switch the background colour to check.

Selling online? See our guide to clean product photos on a white background.

Summary

  • The quickest free way: our background remover. It runs on your device, with no upload and no watermark.
  • Save as PNG or WebP. JPG cannot keep a transparent background.
  • In our latest test, the first photo took about 42 seconds because of a one-time 59 MB download, and later photos took about 5 seconds.
  • Mac, iPhone and Microsoft Office have built-in options for quick jobs.