What this tool does
This tool turns the background of an image transparent. It is built for flat backgrounds: the white behind a line drawing, a solid color behind a logo, the paper in a scan of black ink. You choose the color to remove, set how forgiving the match should be, and download a PNG with a transparent background. All of the work happens inside your browser, so there is no upload and no waiting on a server.
How to remove a background in four steps
- Drop an image onto the box or choose one from your device. PNG, JPG and WebP all work.
- Check the color shown under “Background color to remove.” The tool starts with the color of the top-left pixel. Click anywhere on the preview to pick a different color.
- Move the tolerance slider until the background is gone but the artwork is untouched.
- Press the download button. You get a PNG, which is the format that keeps transparency.
Edges only or everywhere?
“Edges only” is the default. It starts at the border of the image and removes background color that connects to the border. White that is sealed inside the artwork, such as the eye of a cartoon animal or the inside of the letter O, stays where it is. That is usually what you want for line art, because you probably do not want holes punched through the middle of a character.
“Everywhere it matches” removes every pixel close to the chosen color no matter where it sits. Use this when the background also shows through enclosed gaps, like the space inside a mug handle or between the spokes of a wheel. Be careful with it on art that has white highlights, because those will disappear too.
Understanding tolerance
Real images are rarely one perfect color. The edge of a black line fades through shades of gray before it reaches the white page, and JPG files add faint noise on top of that. Tolerance is how far a pixel can drift from your chosen color and still count as background. At 0% only the exact color goes. Clean digital artwork usually works well between 5% and 15%. Scans and JPG files often need 15% to 30%. If you see chewed-up lines or missing pieces of the artwork, the tolerance is too high. If a pale fringe of the old background is left around the edge, it is too low.
Smooth edges
With this option on, pixels right next to the removed area fade out gradually instead of cutting off hard. That avoids the stair-step look along curved lines. If you plan to place black line art over a dark color, a faint light fringe can still show up. In that case, run the picture through the Line Art Cleaner with “Make white transparent” turned on. It produces solid black lines with no gray in between, so there is nothing left to form a halo.
Tips for coloring book and print on demand artwork
- Start from the biggest version of the image you have. A transparent background does not add resolution. If the file is small it will still be small, so check it with the Print Resolution Checker before you build a page around it.
- Keep your original file. The download is a new PNG, and the original is the one you can always go back to.
- For JPG sources, expect noise around the lines. Raise the tolerance a little, or clean the image first.
- For stickers, covers and mockups, put the transparent PNG over a colored layer in your design program and zoom in to check the edges.
What this tool cannot do
It removes a color. It does not recognize objects. A photo of a person or a pet against a busy background will not cut out cleanly, and hair and fur are especially hard. For that kind of job you need a subject-removal tool built on a trained model. This one is for graphics, line art, logos, clip art and scanned drawings, where the background really is one color.
Frequently asked questions
Is this really free?
Yes. There is no signup, no watermark and no limit on how many images you use. The site is supported by advertising.
Does my image get uploaded?
No. The image is processed by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server.
Will it lower the quality of my image?
No. The tool does not resize or recompress the picture, and PNG is a lossless format. Only the transparency changes.
Why is there still white inside my drawing?
You are probably in “Edges only” mode, which keeps enclosed areas. Switch to “Everywhere it matches” to remove them.
Is there a size limit?
There is no fixed limit, but very large images, roughly above 25 megapixels, can be slow or run out of memory on phones. Resize first if the page stops responding.
Can I remove a background that is not white?
Yes. Click the background in the preview, or use the color box, and the tool will remove that color instead.
A note on privacy
Your image is read by your browser and processed on your device. It is not uploaded, stored or shared. See the privacy policy for details about advertising cookies on this site.