Remove background from image
Drop a photo here and the background comes off in your browser, with nothing uploaded.
Jump to the toolYour workspace CUT · FILL · SAVEPrivate by default
Saves as a PNG, which keeps the transparency.
Your photo stays on this device. Only the model is downloaded, once, from this site.
Model: ormbg by schirrmacher, Apache License 2.0. Runtime: ONNX Runtime Web by Microsoft, MIT License.
Processed on your deviceNo watermark. No signup.
Save the cut-out as a transparent PNG, or on white or any colour as a JPG. The first photo downloads the AI model once, 56 or 110 MB. After that a cut takes one to four seconds on a laptop.
How does it work without uploading your photo?
The cutting is done by an AI model that runs inside this page, in your browser. Your photo is read from your device, cut there, and handed back as a download. It is never sent anywhere.
The model is ormbg, an open model released under the Apache License 2.0. It looks at the photo at 1024 by 1024 pixels and decides, pixel by pixel, how much of each belongs to the subject.
That map is then stretched back over your photo at its own size, so the cut-out keeps every pixel of the original. A photo wider or taller than 4096 pixels is scaled to 4096 first, which keeps it inside the canvas an iPhone allows.
Where your browser supports WebGPU, the tool runs a 16-bit copy of the model on your graphics card. Otherwise, or with Data Saver on, it runs an 8-bit copy on the processor.
Both give the same cut-out. On our test photos, the two differed by less than a tenth of a percent.
| What | With WebGPU | Without |
|---|---|---|
| The AI model (ormbg) | 84.04 MB, 16-bit | 42.26 MB, 8-bit |
| The engine that runs it (ONNX Runtime Web) | 25.54 MB | 13.58 MB |
| Total, the first time only | 109.58 MB | 55.84 MB |
| Your photo | Stays on your device | Stays on your device |
Both files come from this site, not from a third party, and the requests for them carry nothing about your photo. Your browser keeps them, so the next photo, today or next week, starts straight away.
The tool says which size your browser will get before anything downloads. On a phone, use Wi-Fi for that first photo, or turn on Data Saver to take the smaller download.
How long does it take?
On the Mac we build on, a cut takes about a second with WebGPU and three to four seconds on the processor alone. A big photo takes little longer than a small one, because the model always works at 1024 by 1024.
With the processor slowed four times, a rough stand-in for a phone without WebGPU, the same cut took about seven seconds. We have not timed it on a real phone yet.
| Photo | Setup | Time to cut |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 x 1440 | Apple Silicon Mac, WebGPU | 0.7 to 0.9 s |
| 4364 x 3273 (cut at 4096 x 3072) | Apple Silicon Mac, WebGPU | 1.2 to 1.3 s |
| 1920 x 1440 | Same Mac, processor only | 2.9 to 4.1 s |
| 4364 x 3273 (cut at 4096 x 3072) | Same Mac, processor only | 3.1 to 4.3 s |
| 1920 x 1440 | Processor only, slowed 4 times | 7.2 s |
What does it cut out well, and what does it miss?
The model was trained on photos of people, and people are what it does best: hair, glasses and shoulders against a busy street or a plain wall.
We tried it on thirteen photos before choosing it, against a smaller model other in-browser tools use. These are the results:
| Photo | ormbg (this tool) | MODNet |
|---|---|---|
| Clear headshots, including curly hair and glasses | Clean | Clean |
| Two people in an old print | Both people, clean | Lost one person |
| A cat on a black background | Kept the whiskers | Kept patches of black |
| A shoe, as a product photo | Clean | Usable |
| Old framed portraits | Found the person | Lost half the person |
MODNet's 8-bit version, the small download, was worse again: it wrecked the old print, the cat and the shoe. Our 8-bit ormbg looked the same as the 16-bit one we run on the graphics card.
It is weaker where the subject and the background are the same colour, and on anything see-through, like a glass or a veil. Check the edges in the preview before you download.
Can you use it for a passport or visa photo?
Often not, and the reason is the rules, not the tool. Several passport and visa offices ask for a photo that has not been edited, and some name background removal outright.
| Photo | What the rules say |
|---|---|
| UK passport photo size | Taken during the online application, and must not be edited |
| US passport photo size | The original, unedited photo; nothing enhanced by AI, and it is checked |
| Canada passport photo size | Taken by a photographer, not altered or edited in any way |
| Australia visa photo size | Unedited: no background removal and no retouching |
| Malaysia passport photo size | Rejects a photo made or edited with AI |
For those, stand against a plain light wall and take the photo again. For a profile picture, a product listing or a school project, a cut-out is exactly what you want.
Transparent PNG, or a colour behind it?
Choose Transparent and the download is a PNG, the format that keeps the see-through parts. Put it over any design, slide or page and only the subject shows.
Choose White or a colour and the download is a JPG with that colour baked in. Nothing is transparent any more, so a JPG is the better file.
The difference is large. Our 1920 by 1440 photo of a dog came out as a 3.05 MB PNG, and as a 519 KB JPG on white.
Is your photo private?
Yes. The photo never leaves your device: it is opened, cut and saved by this page in your browser. There is no account, no server copy and no watermark.
What does travel is the other way: the model and its engine, downloaded once from this site. Those requests carry no photo data.
Common questions
Is it free, and is there a watermark?
It is free, with no watermark, no account and no limit on how many photos you cut. The cut-out downloads at your photo's own size, up to 4096 pixels on the long side.
Why is the first photo slow?
The first photo waits for the model and its engine to download: 110 MB with WebGPU, 56 MB without. Your browser keeps them, so every photo after that goes straight to the cut, one to four seconds on a laptop.
Is my photo uploaded to remove the background?
No. The AI model runs in your browser, so the photo is cut on your device and never sent to us or anyone else. The only download is the model itself, from this site.
Does it work on products and pets, or only people?
It is trained on people and does best on them, but it cut a shoe and a cat cleanly in our tests. A subject the same colour as its background is where it struggles.
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