How to Remove the Background From a Product Photo
To remove the background from a product photo, open Background Remover, upload the photo, click Remove Background and download the result as a PNG with a transparent background. The AI runs on your own device, so the photo isn't uploaded anywhere. You can then drop the cut-out onto a plain white or brand-coloured background in your design app.
How clean the edges come out depends mostly on the photo you start with. A few minutes spent on light and contrast before you press the shutter saves a lot of disappointment later, so we'll cover that first.
Take a photo the AI can read
The tool uses a segmentation model, which means it looks at the picture and decides which pixels belong to the main subject and which are background. It does best when that decision is easy.
- Use contrast. Put a dark product on a light surface and a light product on a dark one. A black bag against a white wall is easy; a white mug on a white tablecloth is hard.
- Use soft, even light. A window on a cloudy day or a lamp bounced off a wall works well. Harsh direct light makes hard shadows, and the model can mistake a shadow for part of the product.
- Keep it sharp. Tap to focus on the product and hold the phone steady. Blur confuses the edges.
- One product per photo. One main subject works better than a busy table with props.
- Fill the frame. If there's a lot of empty space, crop it away first with Image Crop so the product takes up more of the picture.
You don't need a studio. A sheet of white card and a kitchen table near a window is enough for most small products.
Remove the background, step by step
- Open Background Remover and click Upload an image. JPG, PNG and WebP all work.
- Your photo appears in the Original panel. Click Remove Background.
- Wait while the progress bar fills. The first run can take a while (see the next section).
- Check the Result panel. The grey and white checkerboard behind the product is just how transparency is shown on screen. It won't be in your file.
- Click Download PNG. The file is saved with
-no-bg added to its name, for example mug-no-bg.png.
- Click Reset to do the next photo.
The first run downloads a model
The tool is built on the open-source @imgly/background-removal library, which runs a model called ISNet in your browser using WebAssembly. The model files aren't small. On first use, your browser downloads them from IMG.LY's content server, and that can be tens of megabytes. If you're on a slow or metered mobile connection, wait for Wi-Fi. Your browser usually caches the files, so later runs start much faster.
Your photo itself never leaves your device. Only the model files come down to you. That's useful if you're photographing an unreleased product or something inside your home.
Putting the product on a white background
Background Remover gives you a transparent PNG, not a white one. To get a white or coloured backdrop, open your design app of choice, make a plain white (or brand-coloured) canvas, and place the PNG on top. Canva, PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote and most phone photo editors with layers can do this.
You might wonder whether simply saving the cut-out as a JPEG gives you white. JPEG can't store transparency, so the see-through areas have to become a solid colour, but which colour depends on the app doing the conversion, and it isn't always white. Placing the product on a white layer yourself is the reliable way to know what you'll get. Once it's on white, exporting that design as a JPEG is a good idea, since JPEGs are much smaller than PNGs.
A square canvas suits many shop listings. If you need one, export your design at a square size or crop it afterwards with Image Crop set to 1:1.
Check your marketplace's photo rules
Each marketplace sets its own rules for listing photos, and they change, so check the seller help pages for the one you use before you shoot a whole catalogue. As one example, eBay's picture policy says photos must be at least 500 pixels on the longest side, and it doesn't allow added borders, added text or watermarks on listing photos. Some marketplaces also have specific rules for the main image's background, so look those up too.
What the tool can't do
It's worth knowing the limits before you rely on it for a big batch:
- No manual touch-up. There are no brushes to mark areas to keep or erase. You get the result the model produces.
- Fine detail is hard. Fur, loose threads, see-through fabric and glass can come out patchy or partly cut away. A wine glass or a clear plastic bottle may need a different approach, such as shooting it on a plain white backdrop to begin with.
- Big photos are slower. Very large images take longer and use more memory, which can be a problem on older phones.
- PNG files can be large. The output is always a PNG. If it's too heavy for your shop or website, run it through Image Compress and choose WebP, which keeps transparency.
If a cut-out comes back with a ragged edge, try again with a new photo before reaching for another tool: more light, a plainer background and a sharper focus usually fix it.
Other uses for the same cut-out
- Place the product on a coloured slide or flyer, where it sits more neatly than a photo with a box around it.
- Make a round shop avatar or logo image with Circle Image Crop.
If your product is shiny, clear or furry, shoot it against plain white from the start. For everything else, a contrasting background and soft window light will get you a clean cut-out in one click.
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