How to make a PNG transparent

1. 1Open the image in the Preview app.
2. 2Click the Remove Background button.
3. 3When Preview asks whether to convert the file to PNG, click Convert. To keep the original, click Cancel, choose File > Duplicate and work on the copy.

1. 1Open the image in Paint.
2. 2Select the remove background button in the toolbar. To limit it to one area, select that area with the rectangle select first.
3. 3Save the result as a PNG.

Microsoft added background removal to Paint for Windows 11 in version 11.2306.30.0, and opening and saving transparent PNGs in version 11.2308.18.0. Since then, erasing in Paint leaves transparency instead of white.

1. 1Select the picture, then on the Picture Format tab select Remove Background.
2. 2Use Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove until only the background is magenta, then select Keep Changes.
3. 3Right-click the picture, select Save as Picture and choose PNG.

• Open it on a colored background, such as a dark slide or a colored page. A transparent area shows that color.
• If you see a gray-and-white checkerboard, the pattern was saved into the picture as pixels: the background isn’t transparent.
• If the background turned white or black, the file probably went through JPEG along the way, which has no transparency.

Transparency lives in the file’s alpha channel: a value for every pixel from fully transparent to fully opaque, which is what lets a soft edge stay partly see-through.

• Each tool decides what the subject is. Paint can limit the removal to an area you select, and Word and PowerPoint let you mark areas by hand; Apple’s steps for Preview include no way to adjust the outline.
• Hair, fur, glass and busy backgrounds are the hard cases for any automatic tool, so check the edges at full size.
• Transparency survives only in a format that stores it, such as PNG: save the result as a JPEG and the transparent area is filled in.

When a built-in tool leaves part of the background on the subject, Paint’s rectangle select and Office’s marking pens narrow what it removes; Preview has no such control. A rough edge that won’t come right by hand is the case for the transparent background maker, whose matting model estimates how see-through each edge pixel is.

Preview, Paint and Office are built in and detect the subject for you: for a logo or a product on a plain background, use them.

For hair, fur and glass, the transparent background maker uses a matting model, which estimates partial transparency at the edges, and gives you a PNG to download. A cutout uses 7 credits.