Help / Crop, optimize & export

Remove the background from an image (Beta)

Cropped finds the subject of a picture and removes everything else, in one click. It runs on your computer and works offline, so your pictures are never uploaded.

Background removal is in Beta. It works well on clear subjects like products, people and pets on a plain background. Check fine edges such as hair, fur, glass and smoke before you save, and touch them up with the edge brush. We're still improving it, so tell us about pictures it gets wrong.

Quick answer: open the image in the Studio, click Background on the picture toolbar, then Remove background, then click Optimize & Save. Save as PNG, WebP or AVIF to keep the background see-through, or pick a color to put behind the subject.

#Remove a background

1. Open an image in the Studio.
2. Click Background (marked Beta) on the picture toolbar above the image, then Remove background. With no image open, the same controls are under Background in the Studio panel.
3. Cropped finds the subject and shows the result in the editor. The checkerboard marks the parts that will be see-through.

How it runs depends on your computer:

• Mac: Cropped uses Apple Vision, the same subject lifting as Remove Background in Preview and Photos. It's built into macOS 14 and later, so there's nothing to download and it takes about a second.
• Windows and Linux: the first time, Cropped downloads its background model (about 71 MB) and shows the progress on the button. After that it works offline. Each picture takes several seconds to about a minute on the processor, depending on the computer. It needs about 6 GB of memory while it works, so on computers with less than 12 GB it can be slow; Cropped says so under the button.

To remove the backgrounds from several images at once, tick them in the queue and click Remove from N selected images.

Crop, rotate, flip and export sizes all work as usual afterward. The background stays removed for every size you export.

#Choose what goes behind the subject

Under Fill, pick:

• None (the checkerboard) to keep the background see-through.
• White or Black.
• The rainbow swatch to choose any color.

PNG, WebP and AVIF keep a see-through background. JPEG can't, so Cropped saves the background as white unless you pick a fill; click Use PNG in the note to switch formats. See Optimize images for formats.

#Feather or move the edge

Two sliders under Fill clean up the outline of the whole subject at once:

• Feather softens the edge so the subject blends into its new background instead of looking cut out with scissors. A few pixels suits hair and fur; more gives a soft glow.
• Edge moves the outline. Drag it In to drop a thin leftover line of the old background (a halo), or Out to keep more of the subject.

The picture updates when you let go of the slider. Both are measured in pixels of the original image and are saved with every size you export. Set them back to Off and As found to undo them.

#Touch up the edges

If the outline missed a strand of hair or kept a bit of the table, click Touch up edges and paint over the picture:

• Erase (E) clears what shouldn't be there.
• Keep (K) brings back parts of the subject.
• Hold ⌥ Option (Windows and Linux: Alt) to use the other brush while you hold it, or press X to swap.
• [ and ] make the brush smaller or bigger.
• ⌘ Command + Z (Windows and Linux: Ctrl + Z) undoes the last stroke.
• Removed shows the removed parts faintly in gray, so you can see what Keep can bring back.

Click Done (Return, Windows and Linux Enter) to keep your touch-ups, or × (Esc) to leave without them. The brush shows the outline as found; Feather and Edge apply on top again when you click Done.

#Put the background back

Click Restore under Background. The original picture comes back, with your crop and rotation kept.

#Good to know

• Your original file is never changed. The background is removed in the copy Cropped saves.
• It works best when the subject stands out from its background: people, pets, products, logos and objects. Busy scenes with no clear subject may need some touching up.
• On a Mac, background removal needs macOS 14 or later.
• On Windows and Linux, Cropped uses its own optimized version of BiRefNet, an open background removal model (MIT License), and runs it with its own engine inside the app. Only the model is downloaded, once; your pictures stay on your computer. No account or API key is needed.
• The fill, Feather, Edge, the edge brush and exporting work the same on Mac, Windows and Linux.
• If Cropped can't find a subject, for example in a landscape with nothing in front, it says so and leaves the picture as it is.

Still stuck? Click the ? button at the bottom left of the Cropped Studio to ask, send us a message, or request a feature.