How to remove the background from a photo for a YouTube thumbnail (free)

This post is about cutting yourself out of a photo so you can place your face on a thumbnail background. If you want to take a thumbnail off a video instead, read [how to remove a YouTube thumbnail](/blog/how-to-remove-youtube-thumbnail). Here you will pick a photo, remove its background for free, clean up the edges, and export a file YouTube accepts.

What makes a photo easy to cut out

Start with a photo where you stand out clearly from the wall behind you. A plain background in a different color from your hair and clothes gives every tool an easier job. Avoid loose hair against a busy background, because that is where cutouts go wrong first. Light your face well so the edge of your head is easy to see.

Three free ways to remove the background

remove.bg

Go to [remove.bg](https://www.remove.bg/), upload your photo, and it removes the background on its own. Its pricing page says: "Removing the background from 1 image requires 1 credit. Preview images are free on remove.bg and ¼ credit via the remove.bg apps." Download the preview for free, or use a credit for the full resolution file.

Photopea

[Photopea](https://www.photopea.com/) is a free editor in your browser. If you are new to it, start with [how to make a YouTube thumbnail in Photopea](/blog/how-to-make-a-youtube-thumbnail-in-photopea). Photopea's docs say "Magic wand allows you to select pixels with the same (or similar) color." Magic Wand picks the wall, so invert the selection to grab you.

iPhone

Apple Support says "Photo cutouts are available in iOS 16 and later on iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and later." Open the photo in Photos and touch and hold yourself. When you let go, you will see options like Copy, Add Sticker, and Share. Choose Copy, then paste into your editor.

Fixing edges, hair, and fringe

Photopea's Refine Edge docs say photos can contain "objects with a complex shape (trees, hair, fur)" whose "colors are mixed with other colors in the background." Open it with Select, then Refine Edge, or with the "Refine Edge" button in the top panel of any selection tool.

If you start with a selection, "the tool will generate a Trimap for you (selected area as White, the rest as Black)." Then "paint with Grey over the areas, that are not selected perfectly (edges of the object)." Photopea "will deduce the transparency of the Grey area." Paint grey over your hair and any fringe, check the result on the right, and choose New Layer or Raster Mask before you click OK.

Our advice: check your cutout on the background you plan to use, not on transparency, especially a dark one.

Outline and glow

A thin outline or soft glow behind your cutout helps your face stand apart from a busy background. Our advice is to keep it subtle, so viewers notice your face before the effect. If the outline is the first thing you see at small size, make it thinner or softer. A dark background needs less help than a busy one.

Export your cutout and thumbnail

Save the cutout as a PNG with transparency so you can place it on any background. When the thumbnail is done, flatten it and export it as one image. YouTube Help says to upload "in image formats such as JPG or PNG."

YouTube recommends thumbnails "have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels for videos" with "a minimum width of 640 pixels for videos," and says "try to upload a thumbnail with an aspect ratio of 16:9." File limits are "Mobile: 2 MB for video thumbnails" and "Desktop: 50MB for video, Shorts, and podcast thumbnails." See [YouTube thumbnail size](/blog/youtube-thumbnail-size) and [YouTube thumbnail file size](/blog/youtube-thumbnail-file-size), and if your file is too big, [how to compress a YouTube thumbnail](/blog/how-to-compress-youtube-thumbnail).

Check it before you upload

A clean cutout only helps if your face still reads at the size viewers see in their feed. Run the finished thumbnail through Thumbly Score to check how it holds up at small size before you publish.