Background Remover API Documentation

A high-performance, drop-in replacement API for remove.bg®. Send an image via multipart form upload or URL, and receive an instant, crisp transparent PNG with zero background in under 200ms.

# Base URL & Authentication

All requests must be made over HTTPS. Pass your API key in the X-Api-Key header.

# Base URL

https://backgroundremoverapi.com

# Authentication Header

X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY

* For testing and evaluation, the live demo endpoint allows free sandbox calls without an API key.

POST /v1.0/removebg

Returns: image/png (binary)

Removes the background from an uploaded image file or a public image URL. Returns raw binary PNG bytes containing the isolated foreground with an alpha transparency channel.

Request Body (multipart/form-data)

Field	Type	Required	Description
image_file	binary	Optional*	Raw image file (JPEG, PNG, WEBP). *Either `image_file` or `image_url` is required.
image_url	string	Optional*	Publicly accessible HTTPS URL of the image to process.
size	string	No	`auto` (default), `preview`, or `full`. Maintains compatibility with remove.bg size filters.
format	string	No	`auto` or `png` (default). Returns standard 32-bit RGBA PNG.

Response Headers

Compatible with all official remove.bg SDK telemetry checks:

Content-Type: image/png

X-Width: 1200

X-Height: 800

X-Credits-Charged: 1

X-Processing-Time-Ms: 142

X-Dropin-Provider: bgremoverapi

# Implementation Code Recipes

curl -X POST \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "size=auto" \
  https://backgroundremoverapi.com/v1.0/removebg \
  -o no-bg.png

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://backgroundremoverapi.com/v1.0/removebg",
    files={"image_file": open("photo.jpg", "rb")},
    data={"size": "auto"},
    headers={"X-Api-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)

if response.status_code == requests.codes.ok:
    with open("no-bg.png", "wb") as out:
        out.write(response.content)
    print(f"Saved! Processed in {response.headers.get('X-Processing-Time-Ms')}ms")
else:
    print("Error:", response.status_code, response.text)

const fs = require('fs');
const FormData = require('form-data');
const axios = require('axios');

const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('image_file', fs.createReadStream('photo.jpg'));
formData.append('size', 'auto');

axios({
  method: 'post',
  url: 'https://backgroundremoverapi.com/v1.0/removebg',
  data: formData,
  responseType: 'arraybuffer',
  headers: {
    ...formData.getHeaders(),
    'X-Api-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
  encoding: null
})
.then((response) => {
  fs.writeFileSync('no-bg.png', response.data);
  console.log('Finished!');
})
.catch((error) => {
  console.error('Request failed:', error);
});

<?php
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://backgroundremoverapi.com/v1.0/removebg');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, array(
    'image_file' => new CURLFile('photo.jpg'),
    'size' => 'auto'
));

$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

file_put_contents('no-bg.png', $result);
echo "Transparent PNG saved successfully!\n";
?>

# Status Codes & Error Handling

HTTP Status	Meaning	Response format
200 OK	Foreground segmentation succeeded. Body contains raw PNG.	image/png
400 Bad Request	Missing image file/URL or unparseable image.	application/json
402 Payment Required	Credit balance depleted.	application/json
403 Forbidden	Invalid, revoked, or missing X-Api-Key.	application/json
429 Too Many Requests	Concurrency rate limit exceeded.	application/json

GET /v1.0/account

Checks remaining credit balance and rate quota. Matches standard remove.bg account payload schema.

{
  "data": {
    "attributes": {
      "credits": {
        "total": 500,
        "subscription": 500,
        "payg": 0
      },
      "api": {
        "free_calls": 50,
        "sizes": "all"
      }
    }
  }
}