Filmed a green screen video and now you want the backdrop gone? This green screen remover keys out the green in your browser and replaces the backdrop with a solid colour you choose. It does not put a picture or another video behind your subject, and it cannot leave the background transparent, because the result is an MP4.
You choose the colour to remove, tell the tool how close a colour must be to count, and pick the new background. It runs on your own computer, so your video is never uploaded. There is no account and no watermark. Below you will find the steps, what each control does, how to fix rough edges, and how to pick the new colour.
How to remove a green screen in four steps
- Drop a video onto the tool, or several. A preview appears on the stage.
- Under Backdrop colour, choose the green swatch. If your backdrop is a different shade, choose Pick from video and then click the backdrop in the preview.
- Adjust Range and Edge softness until the backdrop is gone and your subject looks clean. Then choose a colour under New background.
- Press Remove background. Save each result, or download them all as a zip.
The preview is drawn with the same maths that writes the saved file, so what you see is what you get. Press and hold Hold to compare to see the original video, then let go to see the keyed version again.
If you dropped in several clips filmed in front of the same backdrop, the settings you choose are applied to each file. That makes it quick to key a whole set from one shoot, such as a batch of presenter clips.
Chroma key controls: what each one does
A green screen remover works by chroma keying. To chroma key video, the tool compares every pixel in each frame to a chosen key colour. Pixels close enough to the key become part of the background. Pixels far from it stay as they are. Four controls decide how that works.
| Control | What it sets | Starting value |
|---|---|---|
| Backdrop colour | The colour to remove: green, blue, or any colour you pick from the video | Green |
| Range | How close a colour must be to the backdrop colour to be removed (Tight to Loose, 5 to 50) | 25 |
| Edge softness | How gradually the picture blends into the new background (Hard to Soft, 0 to 30) | 10 |
| New background | The solid colour that replaces the backdrop | A dark ink colour |
Backdrop colour and Pick from video
Real backdrops are never perfect green. Creases, shadows and lighting shift the shade across the frame. Pure green rarely matches, so the fastest way to get a good start is Pick from video. The button changes to Click the preview, and your next click on the stage takes the colour of that exact pixel.
Click on a part of the backdrop that looks typical, not on the brightest or darkest patch. If the backdrop is blue, choose the blue swatch instead, or pick its exact shade from the video in the same way.
Range: how much counts as backdrop
Range is the most important slider. Raise it until the last green patches vanish. Lower it if your subject starts to turn see-through. A tight range keeps more of the picture. A loose range removes more, with a bigger risk of eating into your subject.
Edge softness: smooth or hard edges
At Hard, a pixel is either backdrop or subject, and edges can look cut out with scissors. Moving towards Soft blends the border over a wider band, which hides jagged edges and works well for hair. Too much softness leaves a faint halo of the old colour, so raise it a little at a time.
Fix rough edges and a see-through subject
When you chroma key video, most problems fall into a few familiar patterns, and each has a quick fix.
| What you see | Try this |
|---|---|
| Green patches are left in the background | Raise Range, or use Pick from video on a patch that is still showing |
| Parts of the subject look transparent or vanish | Lower Range |
| Jagged, cut-out edges | Raise Edge softness a little |
| A faint green halo around the subject | Raise Range slightly, or pick the exact backdrop colour again |
| Clothes or objects close to the backdrop colour disappear | Lower Range, since their colour is near the key |
A subject wearing green will be keyed out along with the backdrop, because the tool cannot tell clothing from background. If the footage is already shot, the best you can do is lower Range as far as the backdrop allows. For the next shoot, choose a backdrop colour that your subject is not wearing, and keep it evenly lit.
In a green screen video, lighting does most of the work before you ever open the tool. An evenly lit backdrop gives one steady shade of green, and one steady shade is easy to remove. Strong shadows and bright hot spots give many shades, and then Range has to reach further to catch them all. Light the backdrop on its own, and keep your subject a little way in front of it.
There is no separate control for green light bouncing onto a subject. If you see green reflected on skin or hair, soften the edge and keep the range as tight as the backdrop allows.
Choosing a new background colour
Under New background you can choose from ready-made swatches or set your own colour. Pick a colour that suits where the video will be used: white for a clean product look, a dark colour for a moody one, or a bold shade for a social post.
The result is an MP4, and MP4 cannot hold a transparent background, which is why the replacement is a solid colour. The tool does not place another video or picture behind your subject. If you need a picture there, you can edit the result in other software, or add a logo on top with watermark video.
Finish the clip with other tools. Add text to video puts a title over the new background, adjust video colour tunes the look, and crop video removes the edges of the frame you do not need. If you only need a presenter's voice, MP4 to MP3 saves the sound as its own file, or MP4 to WAV keeps it uncompressed for editing. When the clip is ready to share in a server, the Discord video compressor shrinks it to fit the upload limit. To send it by email instead, compress video for email brings it to about 20 MB.
Private, free and in your browser
The video is never uploaded, and the server does no video work. The tool is free, needs no account and adds no watermark. Video tools are not counted in the free daily limit, which applies to document conversions only. Read more on the privacy page, or browse all video tools.
It works in current Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Most videos have no size limit, and a few files, such as certain AVI or WMV videos, take longer and can be up to 2 GB.
Clear your backdrop now
Using a green screen remover comes down to three decisions: which colour to take out, how far the removal should reach, and which solid colour goes behind. The preview and Hold to compare help you check each one before you save.
Drop your video into the tool at the top of this page, adjust the sliders and press Remove background to remove the green screen in your browser.
