Is this the same as a phone's portrait mode?

It gives the same kind of result from any photo, including ones taken without portrait mode. A phone measures depth, so things further away blur more; this tool separates subject from background and blurs the whole background evenly, which suits portraits and product photos best. A scene with no single subject - a landscape or a crowd - will not work well.

Why is part of the subject blurred, or part of the background sharp?

The model decides where the subject ends, and it can hesitate over things like a hand holding an object, a busy background, or thin detail like stray hair. Raising Soft edge hides small mistakes along the outline. For full control over the edge, Remove Background has brushes to correct the cut-out by hand.

Does the saved photo keep its full resolution?

Yes. The preview on screen is worked out on a smaller copy so the sliders respond at once, but the saved file is made at the photo's own size, up to 24 megapixels; a larger photo is scaled down to that, and the page says so when it happens. The blur scales with the photo, so the saved file looks like the preview.

Is my photo uploaded to blur it?

No. The photo is decoded and processed on your own machine, and the only download is the model itself, from huggingface.co, the first time; your browser keeps it after that.

Stays on your computer Downloads an AI model from huggingface.co the first time; the browser keeps itHow this works

Blur photo background

Keep the person or object sharp and blur everything behind it, like a phone's portrait mode - the AI runs in your browser, so the photo is never uploaded

Drag & drop a photo here, paste one, or browse

Tap to choose a photo

People, pets, products · JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC · nothing is uploaded

About this background blur tool

Blurs the background of a photo while the subject stays sharp, the look a phone's portrait mode or a wide-aperture lens gives. An AI model finds the subject - a person, a pet, a product - and the rest of the photo is blurred as much as you like with the Blur slider. Soft edge feathers the border between the sharp subject and the blur, which hides a hard outline round hair or fur.

It uses the same subject-finding model as Remove Background, running in this page, and saves a JPG or PNG at the photo's full resolution, up to 24 megapixels. The background is blurred with the subject left out, so the subject's colours do not smear into a glow around it. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.

What you can do

Blur the background of a photo while the person or object in front stays sharp
Set how strong the blur is, from a light softening to a heavy portrait-mode blur
Feather the subject's edge so the change from sharp to blurred is gradual
Switch to the original photo to compare
Save as JPG or PNG at the photo's full resolution, up to 24 megapixels
Opens JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and iPhone HEIC photos, dropped, chosen or pasted

How to blur the background of a photo

Drop a photo onto the page, paste one, or click to choose it.
Wait a few seconds while the model finds the subject. The first time, the model downloads first.
Drag the Blur slider until the background looks right, and raise Soft edge if the outline looks cut out.
Save as .jpg or .png.

Questions

Is this the same as a phone's portrait mode?: It gives the same kind of result from any photo, including ones taken without portrait mode. A phone measures depth, so things further away blur more; this tool separates subject from background and blurs the whole background evenly, which suits portraits and product photos best. A scene with no single subject - a landscape or a crowd - will not work well.
Why is part of the subject blurred, or part of the background sharp?: The model decides where the subject ends, and it can hesitate over things like a hand holding an object, a busy background, or thin detail like stray hair. Raising Soft edge hides small mistakes along the outline. For full control over the edge, Remove Background has brushes to correct the cut-out by hand.
Does the saved photo keep its full resolution?: Yes. The preview on screen is worked out on a smaller copy so the sliders respond at once, but the saved file is made at the photo's own size, up to 24 megapixels; a larger photo is scaled down to that, and the page says so when it happens. The blur scales with the photo, so the saved file looks like the preview.
Is my photo uploaded to blur it?: No. The photo is decoded and processed on your own machine, and the only download is the model itself, from huggingface.co, the first time; your browser keeps it after that.