How to remove the background from a photo for free

Open a background remover that runs in your browser, drop the photo in, and download a PNG with a transparent background, or put the subject on white or any colour. On filedone the free cut-out is made by a small AI model on your own device, so the photo is not uploaded and no account is needed.

Updated 1 October 2026

Remove a background in three steps

Open the photoGo to Remove the background from an image and drop in a PNG, JPG or WebP, choose it, or paste it.
Let it cut out the subjectThe cut-out appears on its own, made on your device. For a photo of a person, tick "This is a photo of a person" to load a model trained on people, which is better on hair.
DownloadDownload the transparent PNG, or pick white, black or a colour first. A JPEG is offered once a colour is chosen, because a JPEG cannot be transparent.

Why "free, in your browser" matters

A remover that does the work on a server has to upload your photo first. filedone's free version downloads a small model to your browser the first time and runs it on your own processor, so the photo stays on your device; the page tells us only that a run happened, with no image, file name or size.

What the free model does well, and where it struggles

The default model, u2netp, decides what is subject at 320 × 320 pixels and scales that answer up to your photo, which is why fine edges suffer. The cut-out keeps your photo's pixel size and colours and adds only transparency.

The free cut-out, by kind of photo
Photo	Free result
Products, logos, simple portraits on plain backgrounds	Clean edges
Hair, fur, glass, busy backgrounds	Softer or bitten edges
Holes inside the subject (a mug handle)	Often left filled in
People, with the people model ticked	Much better on hair

When the paid cut-out is worth it

"Better quality", for signed-in accounts at 2 credits an image, sends your original to a much larger background-removal model on our server and shows its result beside the free one before you download. It is worth it for hair, fur and product photos with fine edges. That upload and its result are deleted from our servers after 2 hours.

The label on the result

Background removal is an AI edit, so the free download carries a small "AI-edited · filedone.ai" mark in its bottom-right corner and metadata saying it was edited with AI. The "Better quality" download has no visible mark; its transparent PNG carries the metadata, a C2PA signature and an invisible watermark.

Next steps with the cut-out

Put the subject on a new scene with Replace a photo background (3 credits an image).
Make a passport or visa photo with a white background with Passport size photo, free in your browser.
Shrink the PNG for an upload limit with Compress an image.

Questions

Is it really free, with no sign-up?

Yes. The standard cut-out runs in your browser with no account and no upload. Only "Better quality" needs an account and costs 2 credits an image.

Does the free download have a watermark?

Yes, a small grey "AI-edited · filedone.ai" in the bottom-right corner, plus metadata saying it was edited with AI. There is no option to remove it. The paid "Better quality" download has no visible text.

Can I remove the background on my phone?

Yes, in the phone's browser. The model is downloaded the first time and cached, and it runs on the phone itself, so a slower phone takes longer.

Will it lower the quality of my photo?

The cut-out keeps the photo's pixel size and colours and is saved as a PNG, which is lossless. What the free model gives up is fine detail at the edge, such as strands of hair.