How can I remove background from an image on Mac?

I had the same problem with a batch of product photos. The backgrounds looked white at first, but once I uploaded them to my shop, the shadows and uneven lighting became much more noticeable.

I tried a few different methods to remove background from image on my Mac. These are the three that worked best for me:

1. Any2Pic

I used Any2Pic when I had several product photos to process at once. The steps were pretty simple:

• I opened AI Image Editor.
• I clicked Add Images and imported my photos.
• I selected Remove BG and clicked Apply Edit.
• I checked the edges, selected PNG, and clicked Save Image.

It processed the photos locally and kept their original dimensions. The edges around smaller product details also looked cleaner than the results I got from some online tools.

This was the most convenient method for me because I could process several photos together instead of uploading them one by one.

2.The built-in macOS tool

For an occasional photo, I also tried the background-removal feature built into Finder. Apple has a guide explaining how Quick Actions in Finder work.

Here’s what I did:

• Selected the image in Finder.
• Right-clicked it.
• Chose Quick Actions → Remove Background.
• Waited for macOS to create a transparent PNG copy.

I then selected the result and pressed the Space bar to check it with Quick Look.

It was quick and didn’t require installing anything. However, I found that it sometimes struggled with fine edges or products that had colors similar to the background.

When the Finder option wasn’t available, I opened the image in Preview instead. Apple also explains how to remove a background in Preview.

3.Command line with rembg

I also tested rembg in Terminal. It’s free, runs locally, and is useful if you’re comfortable with command-line tools. Apple has a simple guide showing how to open Terminal on a Mac.

I installed it with:

python3 -m pip install "rembg[cpu]"

For one image, I used:

rembg i product.jpg product.png

For a folder of images, I used:

rembg p input-folder output-folder

It worked well and saved transparent PNG files, but setting it up took a little longer than the other methods.

For just one or two simple images, I’d use the built-in macOS option. For a larger batch of product photos, I found Any2Pic easier because I could import everything, check the results, and export the PNG files from one interface.

Here are two helpful Apple Support guides:

Perform quick actions in the Finder on Mac - Apple Support

Remove a background or extract an image in Preview on Mac - Apple Support

rembg, an AI powered command line tool for removing background from images on Mac.

It uses a neural network to intelligently detect and remove image backgrounds, even with complex edges like hair or fur.

# Install (requires Python)

pip3 install rembg[cli]

# Remove background from a single image

rembg i input.jpg output.png

Output is a transparent PNG. First run downloads a small AI model (~170MB), so it needs internet access once.

In recent releases of macOS, there is a Quick Action named Remove Background. It is probably even better at removing backgrounds than fiddling with Apple's Preview, or installing Python 3.14 or later to support the rembg tool.

Right-click on the image, and then choose Quick Actions > Remove Background.

If you're comfortable with the command line, you can use bgbgone to remove background from an image on Mac, as a UNIX-style tool that is incredibly fast and scriptable. It's a ~3MB binary that uses Apple's Vision framework.

It gives you a lot of control, like cropping to the subject or adding an outline. You can install it via Homebrew:

brew install Arthur-Ficial/tap/bgbgone.

Seraphing wrote:

I took several product photos for my small online shop, but the white background looks uneven and has a few shadows. I need to remove it and save the products as transparent PNG files for the listings.

A couple of online tools left rough edges around the smaller details, so I’m looking for a reliable background remover for Mac that can produce cleaner results. Ideally, it should process the images locally and handle several photos at once without reducing their resolution.

Does anyone have a simple app or method they would recommend? Thanks!

You have received lots of excellent suggestions. Note also that Adobe Photoshop has an AI extension that does this better than any other tool I have seen. Photoshop is included in Adobe's photography product package/suite.

Try is Preview.app > Tools > Remove Background, and then File > Export... > Format: PNG, Alpha.

You pay a stupendous price for all the extraneous other Python package dependencies that rembg[cpu,cli] installs and then the first time you run it, there is a 1 GB AI model file downloaded into your home directory under the .rembg folder.

Yes, rembg does work to remove backgrounds, but personally, I prefer to keep an uncluttered Python3 distribution. I prefer to use the single Swift script that can handle command-line or file chooser provided images, and preserve their EXIF metadata in the output PNG file. It works on any image file including camera RAW images.

Thanks for the note. Surprisingly Preview vs Quick Action output is slightly different so it is personal preference which is better and it might depend on input. One benefit of Preview workflow is that it preserves metadata like date, GPS, Keywords.

kadiono wrote:

If you're comfortable with the command line, ........ You can install it via Homebrew:

brew install Arthur-Ficial/tap/bgbgone.

Seems like a contradiction since this new option requires the command line to install.

FYI, Homebrew has been known to cause problems with people's systems usually by having improper PATH, but also by all the other low level libraries that are installed. If macOS or other third party apps end up utilizing a Homebrew version of a library instead of the native built-in library, then mysterious & difficult to troubleshoot problems may occur. Especially for people uncomfortable with the command line. This forum is full of posts where we have had to assist people with system issues due to Homebrew.

I'm not saying Homebrew is bad, but a user needs to understand both the command line & Homebrew to use them properly to minimize breaking their system.

Good point. I just put together a Swift application that removes the image background while preserving the original EXIF data in the output PNG.

Amen. 🧐