Make a signature transparent
Add a photo or scan of your signature on paper and get a transparent PNG with only the ink left.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Works offline after first visit
- Open source
- No watermark, no sign-up
Turn a photo of your signature into a transparent PNG by taking the paper out, in your browser. It is free, and what you draw, type or photograph is not uploaded: everything runs in your browser on your device. The signature is made on this page and never saved, and after one visit and a short wait the page works offline.
Drop a photo of your signature here, or choose one
Raise it for pale ink; lower it if paper texture shows.
Crop the photo first if it shows printed lines or other writing: anything dark is kept.
Your signature will appear here on a transparent background.
Preview on a checkerboard: the checks show where the image is transparent.
Done
Open the network tab. Your files never appear in it.
Add files and run the tool to see every request this tab makes.
Your files are processed on this device and never sent to a server. Reload the page to clear everything from memory.
A photo of a signature has a background: the paper, its colour and the shadows across it. Put that photo on a document and you get a grey or cream box around your name. This page removes the paper and keeps the ink, so the signature sits on the document directly.
It works by looking at how much darker each spot is than the paper right around it. That is why a shadow or an uneven light does not leave a patch of paper behind, and why the paper itself, however it is lit, goes transparent. The ink is then painted in black, blue or brown, whichever you pick.
The photo is opened and processed in this page. It is not uploaded and not kept.
How to photograph a signature
- Use plain white or light paper and a dark pen. Pencil and very pale ink work with the strength raised, but the edge gets rough.
- Lay the page flat in daylight or under a lamp, and shoot straight down. Shadows are handled, but a shadow that falls across the ink makes the strokes there lighter.
- Crop to just the signature before you add it, with Crop image: printed lines and text are dark, so the page keeps them.
What the Ink strength slider does
- Higher keeps lighter strokes and fine hairlines, and starts to keep paper grain.
- Lower removes more of the paper and thin strokes, and can break pale ink.
- The middle setting is the one to start with.
Where this falls short
- A signature written over a printed line, a stamp or a coloured background is kept together with them.
- A broad marker or a very thick stroke across a full-page photo can be partly removed.
- The result is one ink colour. The colour of your pen in the photo is not kept.
How it works
- Choose or drop a photo or scan of your signature on plain light paper.
- Look at the preview on the checkerboard. If paper texture shows, lower Ink strength; if pale ink is missing, raise it.
- Download the PNG, copy it, or press Use in Sign PDF.
In your browser, not on a server
Your strokes are kept as a list of points and painted on a canvas in this page, so they can be undone, recoloured and written out as an SVG. A typed name is set in an embedded script font and a photo is turned into a mask: the page estimates the paper around each pixel and keeps only what is darker. The PNG is written by your browser with a transparent background, trimmed to the signature.
Compared with upload-based tools: A signature is the kind of image you do not want on someone else’s server. Here it is drawn, typed or cleaned up on your device, and the image is not uploaded.
Verify it yourself. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, then turn off Wi-Fi or switch to airplane mode and run the tool again. Or open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), pick the Network tab, and watch it while you convert. The panel above does the same count for you.
Questions
Why is the paper still showing?
Lower Ink strength. If the paper is textured, coloured or lit unevenly the cut can leave faint grain; a plain light page and daylight give the cleanest result. You can also crop closer to the signature first.
Why are parts of my signature missing?
The ink is too pale or too thin at that point for the current Ink strength. Raise it a little at a time. A darker pen on a second photo gives the best result.
Does it work on a scan or a screenshot?
Yes. A flat scan on white is the easiest case. A screenshot of a signature on a coloured page works if the signature is clearly darker than its background.
Why a PNG and not a JPG?
A JPG cannot be transparent, so it keeps a white box around the signature. A PNG keeps the see-through background, which is what lets the signature sit on a document, slide or PDF.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The photo is opened and processed by code running in this page, so it stays on your device and is not kept when you close the page. After your first visit and a short wait you can turn off your internet connection and it still works.
More PDF tools
Signature maker
Draw it with a finger or mouse, type your name in a script font, or take it from a photo. Save a transparent PNG for documents, or place it on a PDF.
Grayscale PDF
Every colour becomes its own shade of grey, and the text stays text.
Crop PDF
Cut PDF pages down to what matters: draw the area to keep, or trim the white margins automatically.
Redact PDF
Find a name or number and black it out for good, or draw boxes by hand. The document stays on this device.