File formats
Which image formats the background remover reads (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, PSD, RAW and more), which it writes, and why only PNG and WebP stay transparent.
The background remover reads almost any photo format, including iPhone HEIC, TIFF, Photoshop PSD and Canon or Adobe RAW files, and writes PNG, WebP or JPG. PNG and WebP keep the transparent background; JPG cannot store transparency, so it is saved with a solid background instead.
Which formats can I open?
| Format | Read by | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| JPG, JPEG, JFIF | Browser | Camera rotation (EXIF orientation) is applied |
| PNG | Browser | Already-transparent PNGs work; the new cutout replaces the old alpha |
| WebP | Browser | Animated WebP: the first frame |
| AVIF | Browser | Needs a browser that decodes AVIF (current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari do) |
| GIF | Browser | The first frame |
| BMP, ICO | Browser | |
| HEIC, HEIF | Built-in decoder | iPhone photos |
| TIFF | Built-in decoder | |
| PSD | Built-in decoder | The flattened composite, which Photoshop saves only with Maximize Compatibility on |
| SVG | Built-in decoder | Rendered at twice its declared size |
| CR2, DNG | Built-in decoder | Canon and Adobe camera RAW |
"Built-in decoder" means the tool ships its own reader for a format browsers cannot open, the same one the site's format converter uses. For those files the preview is a JPEG render up to 1600 pixels, while the cutout is made from the full decoded image.
Whatever the format, a photo can be at most 40 megapixels. Past that the tool stops with a message such as "This image is 48 MP. Resize it below 40 MP first", because the decoded pixels alone would take more than 160 MB of memory before the model starts. The image resizer can bring it down.
PDF files are not images. Convert the page with PDF to PNG, then remove the background from that.
Which output format should I choose?
| PNG | WebP | JPG | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transparent background | Yes | Yes | No, filled white (or your colour) |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy, quality 0.92 | Lossy, quality 0.92 |
| Typical size | Largest | Much smaller than PNG | Smallest with a solid background |
| Best for | Design work, editing later, print | Websites, apps, anything served online | Marketplaces and forms that reject transparency |
PNG is the default because it is lossless and every program can open it. If the image is going on a web page, WebP with transparency is usually a fraction of the PNG's size.
Does JPG support transparency?
No. The JPEG format stores three colour channels and no alpha channel, so every pixel is fully opaque. That is why choosing JPG with the background set to None gives a white background, and the tool says so under the format switch. Choose a background colour first if you want something other than white. To keep the subject transparent, save as PNG or WebP.
Is the photo's metadata kept?
No. The output is drawn on a canvas and encoded fresh, so EXIF data from the original, including camera details, dates and GPS location, is not copied into the file. If you want to strip metadata from photos without removing their background, the EXIF remover does only that.
Why did my WebP download come out as a PNG?
Some Safari versions cannot encode WebP from a canvas and quietly return a PNG instead, which is then saved with the .webp name. The image and its transparency are fine; only the compression is PNG's. If you need a real WebP from Safari, download the PNG and convert it with the PNG to WebP converter.