Our Avatars come with an option to remove the background from your footage, without having to record them in front of a green screen!
This is available on all paid subscriptions and should work on any avatar - Photo, Video (Digital Twin), both public and custom!. This guide will walk you through how to enable this feature in the new Editing Studio.
How to Remove the Background of an Avatar
🛎️ FOR INTERACTIVE AVATARS: Removing the background from a custom interactive avatar is possible with advanced coding. We are not able to provide technical support for that here, but you can explore the steps outlined in this github article to get this done. Good luck with your customization!
https://github.com/HeyGen-Official/StreamingAvatarTSDemo
🛎️ FOR Video avatars and Digital Twins- it's important to check the Background Removal Box when submitting your footage.
No worries if you haven't! you can always re-upload your video as another look and make sure to check the box this time!
Step 1: Open a New Project
Select Create Video on your dashboard home screen, then click Avatar Video and choose your preferred orientation. Next, remove the stock avatar and replace it with your own.
Step 2: Toggle off the Background
Make sure you click on your avatar to have the second menu appear over it.
Then you can choose BG Remover option to remove the background. Now you can change the background color, add a photo, or maybe some text—time to let your creativity shine!
Step 3: Submit Your Video
After enabling the background removal and wrapping up your project, the final step is simple: submit your video and watch the HeyGen Magic 🪄 happen.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
I added my avatar to studio but I don't have the option to remove background.
This is most likely due to not checking the box of "background removal" when creating your video look, or your avatar was created before May 2025. Please make sure to re-create your avatar with the same video and check the box of "background removal"
I removed the background in studio but I still see small areas of backgrounds on the side.
Our background removal tool can sometimes leave a faint “halo” if your original background isn’t well-contrasted. To fix this, try re-uploading your avatar with a background that has clearer contrast—it makes the removal much more accurate.
Is background removal available for all avatars?
Currently, the background removal feature is available for all Avatars created after May 2025. Removing the background from a custom interactive avatar is possible with advanced coding. We are not able to provide technical support for this, but you can explore the steps outlined in this github article to get this done. Good luck with your customization!