How do I check if a PNG is transparent?

Drop the file above. It is shown on a checkerboard so any see-through areas are visible at a glance, and the tool reports whether it carries an alpha channel along with how much of it is fully or partially transparent. Everything runs in your browser, with no upload.

How can I tell transparency from a white background?

By eye they look the same on a white page, which is exactly the trap. The checkerboard backdrop reveals the difference: a transparent area shows the squares through it, while a white background hides them. The alpha reading confirms it numerically.

What is an alpha channel?

It is an extra channel alongside red, green and blue that records how opaque each pixel is, from fully solid to fully see-through. PNG, WebP and AVIF can carry one; JPEG cannot, which is why a JPEG can never be transparent.

What do 'fully clear' and 'soft edges' mean?

Fully clear is the share of pixels that are completely transparent, like the area around a cut-out logo. Soft edges are partially transparent pixels, usually the anti-aliased border where a shape fades into the background. A clean cut-out has both: clear surroundings and soft edges.

Why does my PNG look transparent but the checker says it is opaque?

It most likely has a solid white or coloured background baked in rather than real transparency. On a white page that is invisible, but the checkerboard and the alpha reading expose it. To make it genuinely transparent you would need to remove the background.

Is my image uploaded to check it?

No. The transparency is read in your browser from the file's pixels and header. Nothing is sent to a server, so logos, signatures and private graphics stay on your device.

PNG Transparency Checker

PNG transparency checker

Drop a PNG, WebP or AVIF to see whether it is really transparent. The image is shown on a checkerboard so any see-through areas are obvious, and the tool reads the alpha channel to report exactly how much is clear. It runs in your browser, with no upload.

Files never leave your device
Runs in your browser
Free, no signup

How it works

1
Drop an image
Add a PNG, WebP, AVIF or GIF. It is read in your browser to inspect its alpha channel, with no upload.
2
See it on a checkerboard
The image sits on a grey-and-white pattern, so transparent areas show the squares through them.
3
Read the verdict
Get a clear yes or no on transparency, plus how much of the image is fully clear and how much is soft-edged.

What the transparency checker shows

Visual and numeric proof

The checkerboard makes transparency visible while the alpha reading confirms it, so there is no guessing whether a background is really see-through.

Catches the white-background trap

A solid white background looks transparent on a white page. This exposes it, so you do not discover the white box only after the logo is live.

Read locally, never uploaded

The file is inspected in your browser and never sent anywhere, so logos, signatures and private graphics stay on your device.

Where this helps

Logos

Verifying a logo cut-out

Confirm a logo has a genuinely transparent background before placing it on a coloured site, so no white rectangle appears around it.

Cut-outs

Checking a removed background

After cutting out a subject, check that the surrounding area is truly clear and the edges are clean rather than left on a solid fill.

Signatures

Signatures for documents

A scanned signature needs a transparent background to sit over a document. Confirm it is clear, not white, before you use it.

Troubleshooting

Debugging a stray white box

When an image shows an unexpected box on a coloured background, this tells you instantly whether the cause is a missing alpha channel.

Tips that help

1
Never judge on a white page
A white background and real transparency look identical on white. Always test against a pattern or a coloured backdrop, which is what the checkerboard provides.
2
PNG does not mean transparent
The format supports transparency but does not require it. A PNG can store a solid background just as easily, so the extension alone tells you nothing.
3
Look for soft edges
A clean cut-out has a thin band of partially transparent pixels at the edges. All-or-nothing edges can look harsh against a new background.
4
JPEG is never transparent
JPEG has no alpha channel, so if you need transparency the file must be PNG, WebP or AVIF, not a JPG.

Checking image transparency: alpha channels, the checkerboard test, and false positives

Transparency is easy to assume and hard to confirm by eye, because a transparent background and a white one look identical on a white page. That single ambiguity causes a lot of wasted time, from logos that show a white box on a coloured site to cut-outs that turn out not to be cut out at all. This guide explains what image transparency really is, how to test for it reliably, and why files so often look transparent when they are not.

What transparency actually is

Transparency lives in the alpha channel, an extra value attached to each pixel that records how opaque it is. A pixel can be fully solid, fully see-through, or anywhere in between. Formats like PNG, WebP and AVIF support an alpha channel; JPEG does not, so a JPEG is always fully opaque no matter how it looks.

When an image has real transparency, whatever sits behind it shows through the clear areas. That is what lets a logo drop onto any background colour cleanly, or a product cut-out sit on a coloured banner without a rectangle around it.

The amount of transparency varies. A cut-out has large fully clear regions around the subject, plus a thin band of partially transparent pixels at the edges where the shape blends smoothly into whatever is behind it.

The checkerboard test, and why it works

The reliable way to see transparency is to put the image on a patterned background instead of a plain one. This tool uses the standard grey-and-white checkerboard: where the image is transparent, the squares show through; where it is solid, they are hidden.

That pattern is the giveaway a white page cannot provide. On white, a transparent background and a white background are pixel-for-pixel identical to your eye, so the only way to tell them apart is to change what is behind them.

Alongside the visual test, the tool reads the alpha channel directly and reports how much of the image is fully clear and how much is soft-edged. Seeing the number and the checkerboard together removes any doubt about whether the transparency is real.

Why files look transparent when they are not

The most common false positive is a solid background that happens to match the page. A logo saved on a white background looks transparent on a white site, right up until it lands on a coloured section and a white box appears around it.

Another is format confusion. People expect any PNG to be transparent, but a PNG can perfectly well store a solid background; the format supports transparency, it does not require it. Saving a flat image as PNG does not make it see-through.

If a file turns out to be opaque when you needed transparency, the fix is to remove the background, which writes a real alpha channel where the background used to be. To go the other way and put a solid colour behind a transparent image, flattening it onto that colour does the job.

Frequently asked questions

Honest answers to what people ask before using this tool.

PNG transparency checker

How it works

Drop an image

See it on a checkerboard

Read the verdict