How to Make a Transparent Image Using Gimp

Making an Image's Background Transparent

1. Open GIMP. The GIMP app icon resembles a dog-like face holding a paint brush in its mouth.

   1. GIMP may take a few minutes to open if you haven't recently opened it.

2. Open an image in GIMP. Click File in the top-left corner of the window (Windows) or the screen (Mac), then click Open... in the drop-down menu, select an image to open, and click Open.

   1. When removing the background from an image in GIMP, it's best to use an image in which the background is as close to one color as possible. Removing complex backgrounds will take a long time.

3. Click Layer. It's a menu item at the top of GIMP (Windows) or the screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.

4. Select Transparency. This is in the drop-down menu. Selecting it with your mouse cursor prompts a pop-out menu to appear.

5. Click Add Alpha Channel. You'll find this in the pop-out menu.

6. Click Tools. It's at the top of GIMP or the screen. Another drop-down menu will appear.

7. Select Selection Tools. This option is in the drop-down menu. Doing so prompts a pop-out menu.

8. Click Fuzzy Select. It's in the pop-out menu.

9. Select part of the background. Click a section of the background; if you have a particularly complex background with multiple different colors, you'll instead click and drag your mouse across it until a large portion is selected without selecting any of the part of the image that you want to save.

   1. When part of the background is selected, you'll see a dotted line appear around the selected parts.
   2. If the entire background is the same color, clicking anywhere on it will select the entire background.

10. Press the Del key. Doing so will remove the selected part of the background. If your background was one color, the background should now be gone.

    1. On a Mac, click Edit, then click Cut.

11. Remove the rest of the background. If pieces of the background are left over, select and remove them before proceeding.

    1. If you need to zoom in to make minor adjustments, click the
       icon next to the percentage at the bottom of the GIMP window, then click the factor by which you want to zoom in.

12. Export your project as a PNG file. The default export settings will save your project as a JPG, but you'll need to change this in order to maintain your image's transparent background:

    1. Click File.
    2. Click Export As....
    3. Find the file's name at the top of the export window.
    4. Change the "jpg" part of the file's name to "png" (for example, "meow.jpg" would become "meow.png").
    5. Click Export at the bottom of the window, then click Export when prompted.