Cut-out image (cutout): meaning and marketplace rules

Cutting out the product lets one photo serve several marketplaces: pure white for one, light grey for another, transparent for a third.

Edges are where cut-outs fail: hair, fur, sheer fabric and soft shadows need careful masks, and a hard edge looks pasted on.

What a cut-out is used for

A cut-out is the raw material of a product catalogue. Once the product is separated from its background, the same picture can be placed on white for a marketplace, on a brand colour for a shop, on a photo for a banner, or on nothing at all for a designer to use.

It also makes a mixed set of photos uniform. Products photographed on different days, tables and walls look like one series when they all stand on the same plain ground.

How a product is cut out

The older method is drawing: an editor traces the outline of the product by hand with a path, which gives a precise, hard edge and suits objects with clear contours. The newer method is automatic: software recognises the product and builds a mask, including soft transitions that a drawn path cannot follow.

Both produce the same thing in the end, a mask that says for every pixel whether it belongs to the product, to the background or partly to both. The partly matters; it is what makes hair, fur and fine fabric look natural.

Where cut-outs go wrong

The hard cases are always the same: fine edges such as hair, fringe, fur and lace; transparent or reflective materials such as glass, mesh and polished metal; and products whose colour is close to the background, such as a white shirt on a white wall.

Typical faults are a thin halo of the old background around the edge, missing parts where a strap or a handle was taken for background, and openings that were not cleared, such as the space inside a handle. Each of them is easy to miss on white and obvious on a dark colour.

Cut-out and related terms

Transparent background: A transparent background is what remains when the background is removed and nothing is put in its place. It is one way to deliver a cut-out, in a format that can store transparency.
Clipping path: A clipping path is the drawn outline used to cut a product out by hand. The path is a method; the cut-out is the result.
Pure white background: On a pure white background the cut-out sits on white of the highest value. It is the most common destination for a cut-out on marketplaces.
Silhouette image: A silhouette image is a product alone against a plain ground, with its outline easy to read. Most silhouette images are made from cut-outs.
Drop shadow: A drop shadow is the soft shadow added under a cut-out so that the product seems to stand on a surface. Removing the background usually removes the real shadow with it.

A checklist for a clean cut-out

The whole product is there: straps, handles, laces, cables and thin parts were not removed with the background.
The edge shows no halo of the old background colour, on a light ground and on a dark one.
Openings are open: the space inside a handle, between chain links or behind a pierced pattern shows the new background.
Soft edges stayed soft. Hair, fur and fringe do not end in a hard line.
The product still has contact with the ground, through a soft shadow where the sales channel allows one.
The file was saved in a format that keeps transparency, if a transparent background is what is needed.

Questions

Cut-out image, answered.

Why does my cut-out product image look pasted on?

Usually because the edge is too hard or the product has lost its contact shadow. A real object has slightly soft edges and meets the ground with a shadow; a cut-out with a razor-sharp outline, a fringe of the old background colour or no shadow at all seems to float. View the cut-out on both a light and a dark background, and the fringe and any missing pieces show up.

How do I get a clean cut-out from a phone photo?

Photograph the product against a background that contrasts with it, in even light. Contrast gives the tool a clear edge to follow, whereas a white shirt on a white sheet or a dark shoe on a dark floor leaves it guessing; keep the whole product in the frame and in focus. Herofab's Remove background takes a product photo and returns it transparent, on white or on grey.

What file format should a cut-out image be saved in?

It depends on the background. A cut-out with a transparent background needs a format that stores transparency, usually PNG or WebP; a JPEG would fill the empty area with a solid colour. A cut-out placed on white or another plain colour can be saved as a JPEG, which gives a smaller file. Herofab's Remove background delivers a product photo transparent, on white or on grey.

Is a cut-out the same as a transparent PNG?

Not quite. The cut-out is the picture of the product without its background; the transparent PNG is one file in which it can be delivered. The same cut-out can also be placed on white, on grey or on a photo, and then the file is no longer transparent, although the product in it is still a cut-out.

Which products are hard to cut out?

Products with fine or see-through edges and products that resemble their background. Fur, hair, fringe, lace and mesh have no clear outline; glass and polished metal show the background through or on their surface; and a pale product on a pale wall gives the software little to separate. A contrasting, evenly lit background at the shoot makes all of them easier.

In marketplace rules

What marketplaces say about it.

Updated 25 September 2026

Galaxus: The first image shows the product cut out; Galaxus gives every cut-out image the same background colour Official page
OTTO: The main image is cut out, or on a light, neutral background Official page
Google Shopping: Solid white or transparent backgrounds; light-coloured products should not use transparency, as they may show on black Official page
ABOUT YOU: PNG up to 4 MB for transparent backgrounds Official page