Remove photo and video backgrounds
Easily remove photo and video backgrounds with one click.
Background remover is included with paid plans. See Understand your AI usage to learn more about AI access and usage limits.
You can access Background Remover or Add Background tools without creating or opening a design.
Does Background Remover add an AI label to your design? Background Remover uses AI, but it's considered an editing tool. It doesn't add Canva's AI-generated content metadata to your design. Using it on its own shouldn't cause your design to be labelled "AI content" when you post to platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
Remove photo backgrounds from the editor
- Select the photo you want to edit.
- From the editor toolbar, select BG Remover.
- Wait for the background to be processed.
Remove photo backgrounds from the Projects tab
Remove photo backgrounds from the Projects tab
- From the homepage, go to Projects.
- Go to Images.
- Hover over the photo you want to edit, then select (More).
- Select Edit image.
- Under Tools, select BG Remover.
Remove photo backgrounds in a folder
You can remove the backgrounds from all supported photos in a folder at once, or select multiple photos in a folder to remove their backgrounds in bulk.
Remove backgrounds of all images in a folder
- From the homepage, go to Projects.
- Hover over the folder you want to edit, then select (More).
- Select Remove background.
You’ll see the progress as Canva removes each photo’s background. Once complete, Canva creates a new folder named "[folder name] - Edited". Your original photos and folder stay unchanged.
Remove backgrounds of selected images inside a folder
- From the homepage, go to Projects.
- Open a folder.
- Hover over the images you want to edit, then tick the checkbox.
- From the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, select BG Remover.
You’ll see the progress as Canva removes each photo’s background. Once complete, the edited photos are added to the same folder.
Limitations
- Paid plans only: Background Remover is available with paid plans. See your plan options on our pricing page.
- Up to 50 images at a time: Folders with more than 50 images can’t use Background Remover. The option appears grayed out.
- One folder at a time: You can only remove backgrounds from one folder at a time.
- Uploaded images only: Only uploaded images will be processed. Canva library photos and designs added to a folder will be skipped.
The Remove background option is greyed out for a folder.
What can cause this
The folder contains more than 50 images.
What to do
- Remove some images from the folder until it contains no more than 50 images.
- Select another folder that contains 50 images or fewer.
Some photos are missing from the new remove background folder.
What can cause this
- Canva couldn’t detect a clear subject in some uploaded images.
- Some items in the original folder are Canva library photos or designs. Only uploaded images can be processed.
What to do
- Check the progress for images marked “An error has occurred.” Images that Canva couldn’t process remain in the original folder.
- Check whether the missing items are Canva library photos or designs. These are skipped during bulk background removal.
- Check the new "[folder name] - Edited" folder for the images Canva successfully processed.
Remove photo backgrounds in Canva Sheets
Easily clean up images in your sheet by removing backgrounds with just a few clicks.
- Select the cells with the image you want to edit.
- Click Actions in the floating toolbar.
- Choose Background Remover to remove the background automatically.
- Wait for the tool to process the image.
- Click Apply to save the changes.
Background Remover appears in the toolbar when one or more image cells are selected.
Remove photo backgrounds in Canva AI
Ask Canva AI in the homepage to remove your photo’s background. This is available on paid plans only.
- From the homepage sidebar, select Canva AI.
- Attach a photo. Select Upload to choose a photo from your device or Import to choose a photo from your connected cloud storage app.
- Enter a prompt such as “Remove background” or “Delete the background”.
- Press Enter (Windows), return (Mac) on your keyboard, or the arrow icon in the chat to send.
- Wait for Canva AI to reply with the result in the chat.
Once the result is available, you can do the following:
- Select the photo then the Use Canva editor button to open it in a design and make more edits. You can also use the erase and restore brushes in the editor to refine the result.
- Select the download icon to save the photo to your device.
- Select the menu icon to copy, rate, or report the result.
Canva AI doesn’t support video background removal yet, but you can still do it in the editor. See Remove video backgrounds section below.
Remove photo backgrounds in Ask Canva
While in the editor, select Ask Canva and request to remove the background in a photo.
- Select an image.
- From the floating toolbar, select Ask Canva. You’ll be redirected to the Canva AI panel.
- Enter a prompt such as “Remove background” or “Delete the background”.
- Press Enter (Windows), return (Mac) on your keyboard, or the arrow icon in the chat to send.
- Wait for Canva AI to apply the result directly to your image.
Use the erase and restore brushes
After removing the background, use the Pixel Eraser's erase and restore brushes to fine-tune your result.
When you're in this mode, zooming and undoing or redoing brush strokes won't work.
- Reselect BG remover from the editor.
- Select Erase or Restore brush. You can use the Brush size slider to adjust your brush size.
- Drag the brush over the parts of the photo you want to erase or restore.
- To see the original version while editing, select Show original image.
- Click the Undo or Redo icons to Undo or Redo a brush stroke.
For best results, try zooming in and moving around the image when editing. Learn more about mouse and trackpad gestures for brush tools.
You can also remove backgrounds on your uploaded photos from Projects. Learn more about uploading and editing photos in bulk.
Currently, Background Remover only works for photos under 9MB in size. It's not available for Vector images.
Any uploaded photo with a resolution of more than 10MP will also be downscaled to 10MP after removing its background.
If the background remover isn’t loading for you, check your internet connection and try again.
Remove video backgrounds
- Select the video you want to edit.
- From the editor toolbar, select BG Remover.
- Wait for the background to be processed.
At the moment, you can only remove backgrounds on videos with an original length that’s less than 10 minutes. If you trimmed the video in Canva, you’d need to download and re-upload it to use this feature.
For mobile, you must also upload videos via the Uploads tab, not the Camera Roll or Gallery.
If you’re having trouble removing backgrounds from your video, check your internet connection and try again.
FAQs
Does Background Remover use AI?
Yes, Background Remover uses AI technology to detect and remove backgrounds automatically. It's considered an everyday editing tool, and not a content generator.
It shouldn't. Canva only adds AI-generated content metadata when a feature creates entirely new content or significantly changes it, like Magic Media or Magic Edit. Background Remover doesn't do either of these, so it doesn't add that metadata to your design.
My design was flagged as AI even though I only used Background Remover. What should I do?
Contact Canva Support and share your design link and where you posted it. We're actively looking into reports like this.
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