How to remove a background from an image
Four steps, plus the handful of judgement calls that decide whether the result looks cut out or looks natural.
The short version
Four steps
- 1
Open the image in the tool
Drag the file onto the frame, choose it from your device, or paste it from the clipboard. Nothing is uploaded — the file is read directly by your browser.
- 2
Draw a box around your subject
Include the entire subject plus a margin of background on every side. The margin is not optional padding: the model finds the subject by contrast with what surrounds it.
- 3
Run the cutout and inspect the edges
The checkerboard pattern shows which pixels became transparent. Look closely at hair, straps, handles and anything thin, since that is where errors live.
- 4
Correct, then export
Erase leftover background, restore anything over-cut, then export as PNG or WebP to keep transparency, or JPEG to flatten onto a colour.
Choose the right image before you start
The single biggest factor in cutout quality is the photograph, not the software. A subject that contrasts with what is behind it will cut out cleanly in any competent tool; a dark coat against a dark wall will fight every tool you try.
If you can retake the shot, put something plainly different behind the subject. Two minutes of setup saves ten minutes of brushwork.
Why your selection box should be generous
It is tempting to draw the box tightly around the subject, as if you were cropping. That produces a worse result, sometimes an empty one.
The model is trained to find a distinct object within a scene. Given a crop that is entirely subject, there is no scene left — no background to distinguish it from — and the prediction collapses. Leave visible background on all four sides and the same model succeeds.
Fixing edges without starting over
Two brushes cover nearly every correction. Erase removes what should not be there — a strip of wall, a shadow the model kept. Restore paints the original pixels back where too much was taken, which is the usual fix for hair.
Work in short strokes. Each stroke is one undo step, so a mistake costs a click rather than the whole edit.
Picking the export format
PNG when the background must stay transparent and the file will be used anywhere. WebP when the destination is a web page and file size matters. JPEG only when you want a solid colour behind the subject, because JPEG cannot store transparency.
If you are unsure, export PNG. Converting later is easy; recovering detail from a lossy file is not.
Frequently asked questions
How long should removing a background take?
A few seconds of processing once the model is cached, plus however long you spend correcting edges. Simple subjects often need no correction at all.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The tool runs in a browser tab. The model downloads on first use and is then cached by the browser.
What if the result comes back empty?
Either the image has no distinct subject — a sky or a texture, for example — or the selection box was drawn too tightly. Widen the box so background is visible around the subject and run it again.