EasyFade › How to make an image transparent
How to make an image transparent
There are two different things people mean by this, and they need different tools. Worth knowing which one you are after before you start.
Making part of an image fade to transparent is a gradient: the picture gets progressively less present until it is gone. That is what this tool does.
Removing a background is a cutout: a subject is kept and everything around it is deleted along a hard edge. That is a different job and needs background-removal software.
If you want a photo to blend softly into a page, a slide or another photo, you want the first one. Here is how.
Step by step
- Open the editor. No signup, nothing to install.
- Add the image. Click, drag or paste. It is read by your browser and never uploaded.
- Pick how the transparency is placed. From an edge inward, along a gradient line you position anywhere, or inside a shape. Edge fading is free; the other two are part of Pro.
- Adjust distance and softness. Distance is how much of the image is affected. Softness is how abruptly it hands off. Both update live.
- Save as PNG. Download at full resolution. PNG preserves the alpha channel so the transparency survives.
How to tell real transparency from faked transparency
A quick test: put the image on a strongly coloured background. Real transparency takes on the colour. Faked transparency — a gradient to white that was saved as a JPG, or a PNG that was flattened onto white before saving — shows a pale ghost or a visible rectangle.
The checkerboard pattern you see behind an image in an editor is not part of the picture. It is how editors draw "nothing is here". If you save correctly, the checkerboard does not come with it.
Where transparent PNGs tend to go wrong
- Saved as JPG. The format cannot hold transparency and fills it with white.
- Pasted into a program that flattens. Some applications composite onto white as soon as you paste. Insert the file rather than pasting.
- Resized by something that discards alpha. Less common now, but older bulk image tools do it.
Common questions
Can this remove a background?
No. This fades parts of an image into transparency along a gradient. Cutting a subject out from its background is a different operation and needs a background removal tool.
What formats can I save?
PNG, which keeps transparency, and WebP. Avoid JPG for anything with a fade in it.
Does it reduce the resolution?
No. The output matches the input, on the free version too.