Remove a background on your device
Cut a person or product out of a photo with a model that runs in your browser, then refine the edge and export a transparent PNG.
Beginner4 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Editor · Remove background
On this page
Remove background finds the subject in a photo and hides everything else. It runs entirely in your browser: the photo is never uploaded and there is no charge. Use it for product shots, portraits for a poster, or anything you want to place on a new background.
Remove a background
- Open or place the photo so it is its own image layer, and select it.
- In Properties, under Quick actions, click Remove background. It is also at Layer > Remove background and in the command palette (Ctrl+K; Cmd+K on a Mac).
- The first time, your browser asks to download the model once (about 26 MB). Click OK. Progress shows as Downloading model with a percentage.
- The Editor shows Finding the subject, then hides the background with a mask and says Background hidden with a mask. Paint on the mask to fine-tune the edges.
On a phone, select the photo and tap Remove background in the Select or Image tab.
Choose the right model
| Standard | Any subject | |
|---|---|---|
| How to use it | Remove background | Not a person? Use the any-subject model (115 MB, needs a recent browser) |
| Model | MODNet | BiRefNet lite |
| Download, once | About 26 MB | About 115 MB |
| Best at | People and portraits | Products, animals and objects |
| Needs | Any modern browser | WebGPU |
The standard model is trained on people, so it is fast and strong on portraits but can struggle with a bottle or a chair. For those, click the Not a person? link under the button. If your browser has no WebGPU, the Editor says This browser cannot run the any-subject model. Using the standard one. and carries on with the standard model. Browser support lists which browsers have WebGPU.
Why it uses a mask
Nothing is deleted. The background is hidden by a layer mask: white where the layer shows, black where it is hidden, grey for soft edges such as hair. That means a bad cut is easy to fix, and you can always get the full photo back.
The Mask section in Properties has the controls: Paint on mask, Turn off (to see the whole photo again), Invert (keep the background, hide the subject) and Delete mask. More in Masks.
Refine the edge
Paint small fixes
- Click Paint on mask in Properties. The Brush tool is selected for you.
- Paint with the Brush to bring back parts that were hidden by mistake, such as a hand or the edge of a product.
- Switch to the Eraser (E) to hide leftovers of the background.
- Use a soft brush (low Hardness) on hair and fur, a hard one on product edges. [ and ] change the size.
- Click Done painting mask when finished.
Rework hair and fur with Select and mask
For difficult edges, Select > Select and mask… (Ctrl+Alt+R) opens a focused workspace that works out soft edges from the colours around them.
- Select the cut-out layer and choose Select > Layer pixels to turn the current cut-out into a selection. Or start from scratch with Select > Subject.
- Open Select and mask…. Set View to On black or On white to see the edge clearly.
- Paint over hair and fuzzy edges with the Refine edge brush. Use Add to selection and Remove from selection for areas that are plainly in or out.
- Tune the Edge sliders: Radius widens the band that gets worked out automatically, Smooth evens out a jagged outline, Feather softens it, Contrast makes it crisper and Shift edge moves it in or out.
- Tick Clean up colour fringes if the old background colour glows through the hair, and set its Amount.
- Under Send to, choose Layer mask and click OK. This replaces the layer's current mask.
The other Send to options are Selection, New layer with mask and New layer. The two new-layer options are the ones that include the colour fringe clean-up, because they build new pixels.
Export a transparent PNG
- Click an empty part of the canvas to deselect layers. Under Design in Properties, set Background to none. The panel confirms: Transparent. PNG and WebP exports keep it see-through.
- Or keep the background colour and tick Leave out the background colour in the export window.
- Export with Ctrl+E as PNG or WebP. JPG has no transparency.
To crop the result tight to the subject, use Image > Trim transparent edges before exporting. See Export for screen.
Common problems
- The button is missing or greyed out. It only works on image layers. Text and shapes have no photo background to remove.
- It says it could not load the background remover. The model downloads the first time you use it, so you need a connection once. Check it and try again. After that it works offline.
- It cut the wrong thing. The model looks at this layer's own pixels only, not the rest of the design. If the subject is small or low contrast, try the any-subject model, or select it with the Object select tool (W) and use Select and mask… to send it to a layer mask. See AI on this device.
- I pressed Cancel on the download prompt. Nothing happens and nothing is stored. Click Remove background again to be asked again.