Remove the background from a logo

Where a transparent logo is needed

A logo saved on a white square looks wrong the moment it is placed on a coloured header, a dark slide or a photo. A logo with a transparent background sits on any colour, which is what websites, email signatures, presentations, merchandise mock-ups and video overlays need. If you only have a JPEG from an old file or a screenshot, you can still make the logo background transparent in your browser.

Start from the largest, sharpest copy of the logo you can find. Removing the background from a bigger file leaves smoother edges than working on a small icon.

Choosing the right selection tool

For a logo on a flat white or solid backdrop, Colour Range (press I) is usually the quickest logo background remover. Click the backdrop, then raise Fuzziness until the whole background is selected but the artwork is not. Shift-click adds another shade, Alt-click removes one.

If the logo has white parts of its own, such as white lettering inside a coloured badge, Colour Range would take those too. Use the Magic Wand instead with Contiguous turned on: it selects only the background connected to where you click, so the white inside the artwork stays. Turn on Localized in Colour Range for a similar effect.

Crisp edges and clean letters

Zoom to Actual pixels (100%) and check the curves of the letters. A pale fringe from the old white backdrop can often be removed with Contract 2px in the Select menu, and Smooth edges evens out a jagged outline. Remember the small holes inside letters such as o, a and e: the backdrop shows through them, so check they are transparent too.

For a logo you need to redraw sharply, the Pen tool traces exact curves, and SVG outlines can be exported with CutLift Pro.

Saving a logo PNG with a transparent background

Export as PNG or WebP; JPEG cannot store transparency. Choose Trimmed in Cutout Studio to crop the file tightly around the artwork, which makes the logo easier to place. Small logos can be enlarged with Upscale (CutLift Pro). Transparent PNG downloads are free with a free account, and your brand files are never uploaded, because everything runs on your own device.