How to make a transparent video
- Drop your clip into the box above. The checkerboard in the preview shows the areas that will be transparent.
- Pick the method. AI cutout for ordinary footage of people, Color key for green or blue screen footage.
- Clean the edges. Use Shrink / expand to remove a fringe of old background and Feather to soften hard outlines.
- Export. Background stays on None, so the format is fixed to WebM (VP9 with alpha). Choose the resolution and click Export video.
Where a transparent video works
| Where | Transparent WebM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge, Firefox | Yes | Plays with transparency in a page or when opened directly |
| Websites (HTML video tag) | Yes, in those browsers | Add autoplay muted loop playsinline for an overlay or hero animation |
| OBS Studio | Yes | Add it as a Media Source for a stream overlay or alert |
| Safari, iPhone, iPad | No transparency | Provide a fallback, or use a green screen MP4 in an editing app |
| Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve | Limited | Export a green screen MP4 and use the editor's keyer instead |
If you are not sure, make both: one transparent WebM and one MP4 with a pure green background. The tool remembers your settings, so the second export is one click away.
Transparent video for websites
A transparent WebM is a light way to put a moving person or object over your page design, for example a presenter greeting visitors in a corner of the page. Keep the clip short and export at 720p to keep the file small, and loop it. Because Safari does not show WebM transparency, add an image or a video with a background as a fallback for Apple devices.
Transparent video for streaming and editing
Streamers use transparent clips for webcam cutouts, animated alerts and reactions on top of gameplay. In OBS, add the WebM as a Media Source and it sits over your scene without any chroma key filter. In most desktop editors, the green screen route is more reliable: set Background to Color with the default green, export an MP4 and key it in the editor. Our green screen remover explains the key settings.
What the alpha channel stores
Normal video stores three values per pixel for color. A transparent video adds a fourth, alpha, from fully see-through to fully solid. Soft values in between are what make hair, motion blur and anti-aliased edges look natural over a new background instead of jagged.
VP9 cannot store alpha in the same picture, so WebM saves it as a second, grayscale picture alongside each frame. Players that understand it combine the two; players that do not simply show the color picture, usually with black where the background was. That is why a transparent video may look like it has a black background when it is opened in an app without alpha support.
Quality and file size
- Resolution: original size keeps every detail; 720p is usually enough for overlays and web use and processes faster.
- Edges: the AI produces a soft alpha around hair. Shrink slightly if you see a halo of the old background on dark or light pages.
- Sound: the original audio is kept as Opus inside the WebM. Turn off Keep audio for silent overlays to save space.
Want a new background instead of transparency? Use the video background changer, or go back to the main video background remover for all options.