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GIF background remover

Remove the background from an animated GIF and get a transparent background — every frame cut out automatically, the animation and its timing kept. Nothing is uploaded.

Your image

Drop an animated GIF here

GIF

Add an image to get started.

Why use this tool

  • No file size limit

    Full-size photos straight from your phone or camera.

  • Nothing is uploaded

    Processed entirely in your browser. Your files never leave your device.

  • No signup needed

    Open the tool and go. No account, no email.

Removing a background from a still picture is one decision. An animated GIF is one decision per frame, because the subject moves and the background behind it changes with every step of the loop. Cutting a sticker out by hand means doing that thirty or forty times and keeping it consistent.

This does it automatically. Each frame goes through the same image-segmentation model the still remover uses, the delays and loop are kept, and what comes back is a transparent GIF that still moves — no green screen, no manual masking, no watermark.

How to remove the background from a GIF

  1. Drop in your animated GIF

    Click the box above or drag the file on to it. The model begins downloading as soon as the page opens, so by the time you have chosen a file it is usually ready.

  2. Let every frame run

    Press the button. A bar counts the frames as they go, because this is the slow one — every frame is a separate pass of the model.

  3. Download the transparent GIF

    The result is shown on a checkerboard so you can see what is now missing, still animating, ready to download.

What you get, and what GIF cannot do

A transparent GIF is not quite the same thing as a transparent PNG, and the difference is worth knowing before you start. GIF transparency is one bit: every pixel is either completely see-through or completely solid, with nothing in between.

That means no soft edges. Where the still remover can fade hair and motion blur gradually into nothing, a GIF has to choose for each pixel, so cut-out edges look crisper and slightly more jagged. It is a limit of the format from 1989, not of the model — every GIF background remover has it.

If what you actually need is one frame with a genuinely soft edge, the still background remover produces a PNG with full transparency and will look better. Use this one when the animation is the point.

Why it takes a while

The model looks at each frame on its own, at full detail, and a forty-frame GIF is therefore forty passes. On a laptop that is usually under a minute; on an older phone it can be several. The frame counter is there so you can see it moving rather than guess.

The model itself is downloaded once, about 56 MB, and then kept on your device — so the first GIF of the day includes that wait and every one after it does not. It is the same model as the still remover, so if you have used that, the download is already done.

Very long GIFs are cut off rather than left to run for ten minutes. If yours is longer than the tool handles in one go, it says so on the result and tells you how many frames were left out.

Nothing is uploaded

Your GIF is never sent anywhere. The frames are decoded by your browser, the model runs on your own device, and the new GIF is encoded there too — there is no server in the loop at any point, which is also why there is no queue and no file size limit beyond your own memory.

That matters more than usual for this kind of file. A GIF is often a person: a reaction clip, a pet, someone on a call. Those are exactly the files worth not handing to a stranger's server for processing.

It also means no account, no watermark stamped across your sticker, and no daily limit on how many you can make.

Transparent GIF against transparent PNG

Which of the two to reach for.

Animated GIFPNG still
TransparencyOne bit — on or offFull 8-bit, soft edges
EdgesCrisp, slightly jaggedSmooth, fades out gradually
Keeps the animationYes, with its timingNo, a single frame

What people use it for

  • Stickers for chat apps

    A reaction GIF given a transparent background so it sits on the conversation rather than in a white box.

  • Overlays in a video edit

    An animation dropped straight on to footage with no green screen to key out.

  • Animated assets for a web page

    A moving element over a coloured or patterned background instead of a flat rectangle.

  • Slide decks and presentations

    An animated figure placed on a slide without the block of background around it.

Frequently asked questions

Is this GIF background remover free?
Yes, completely. No account, no trial, no watermark and no daily limit. The tools run on your own device, so there are no processing costs to pass on.
Does it keep the animation?
Yes. Every frame is cut out separately and written back with its original delay, so the result loops exactly as the original did.
Is my GIF uploaded to a server?
No. The frames are decoded, the model runs and the new GIF is written entirely in your browser. The file never leaves your device.
Why are the edges jagged?
GIF transparency is one bit: a pixel is either fully transparent or fully solid, so there is no soft fade. Every transparent GIF has this. For a soft edge on a single frame, use the still background remover and get a PNG.
How long does it take?
Roughly a second a frame, so a short GIF is under a minute on a laptop and longer on an older phone. The first run of the day also downloads the 56 MB model, which is then kept on your device.
Is there a limit on length?
Very long GIFs are trimmed rather than left running for minutes. If frames were left out, the result says so and gives the number.
Is there an app I need to install?
No. This is an online GIF background remover that runs in the browser tab you already have open — nothing to install, on a phone or a computer.
Can I remove the background from a video instead?
Not here — this reads GIF frames only. Converting a short clip to GIF first is the usual route.
Why does it say my browser cannot read the frames?
Reading an animated GIF frame by frame needs a recent browser. A current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari will work.

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