Change photo background:
white or blue, for passport photos

How to change a photo background

1. Choose the colour under New background in the settings panel. White is the default.
2. Click Choose files or drop the photo onto the page. The first time, the background tool downloads, which takes a moment.
3. The person is found and the background is replaced automatically. Check the edges around the hair and shoulders.
4. Click Save to download the photo. To try another colour, change New background and click Apply to all files.

What the settings do

• New background. White, Light blue, Blue, Red, Light grey or Transparent (PNG). White and light blue suit most passport and ID photos; blue, red and light grey cover forms that ask for another plain colour.
• File size limit. No limit, or under 20, 50, 100 or 200 KB. It applies to JPG only: quality goes down first, and the picture is made smaller only if it has to be. Transparent PNGs are always saved at full quality.

What you get

A coloured background gives a JPG, and Transparent gives a PNG where everything behind the person is see-through, ready to place on a document, a design or another background.

The photo keeps its framing. Nothing is cropped, and photos up to 2560 pixels on the long side keep their size; larger phone photos are reduced to 2560 pixels, which is plenty for forms and prints.

Behind the scenes, a person-segmentation model (MediaPipe) marks hair, face, skin and clothes as the person. The edges are then refined against the photo itself, and the old background’s colour is taken out of the edge pixels, so you don’t get a coloured halo around the hair.

Limits worth knowing

• One person, head and shoulders. The tool is built for a single person facing the camera. Smaller figures in the background are removed, but a second person of similar size is kept as part of the subject.
• Fine, flyaway hair can be lost or blend into the new colour, especially against a busy or similar-coloured background.
• Objects, pets and products aren’t cut out. The model only looks for people, and you’ll see “No person found in this photo” when there isn’t one.
• The first use downloads about 30 MB, the engine plus the model. Your browser keeps it, so later photos start quickly.

Passport photos: background change and the rules

To crop to an exact size such as 35 × 45 mm or 2 × 2 in, use Passport size photo maker. It has its own Background setting (Keep original, White or Light blue), so you can fix the background and crop in one go.

Some official passport and visa rules ask for a photo that hasn’t been edited, and a changed background may count as an edit. Check the official requirements first. A photo taken against a plain, light wall is still the safest option, and it also gives this tool the cleanest edges if you do need a new colour.