Portable alpha
Make a transparent PNG that keeps its alpha
Create or isolate a subject, preview it over a checkerboard, and download a PNG with a real alpha channel. This page focuses on the file format itself: what transparency stores, where it gets lost, and how to verify the final asset.
Output
Transparent preview
Your image will appear here
The checkerboard reveals transparency. Download is always encoded as PNG.
Why transparent PNG files are different
A normal RGB image records color but not visibility. A PNG with alpha adds a fourth value per pixel. Alpha can be fully transparent, fully opaque, or any level between the two. Partial alpha is what preserves soft hair, antialiased edges, smoke, and semi-transparent glass when the image is composited.
This is why the phrase “transparent image” is not enough when selecting a format. JPEG cannot store alpha. Some editors flatten transparency when they copy an image to the clipboard or export through an RGB-only operation. The original file can be correct while a later export silently destroys it.
PNG uses lossless compression, so pixels and alpha values are preserved when the file is saved. WebP also supports transparency and may produce a smaller file for websites. AVIF supports alpha as well and can compress efficiently, although older design and office software may not open it reliably.
Pellucen uses WebP for the fast on-screen preview and re-encodes the downloaded asset as PNG. That keeps the browser preview efficient while giving the final file a broadly compatible transparent raster format.
How Pellucen preserves alpha from generation to download
The server requests transparent output from the configured image provider and inspects the returned PNG structure before accepting it. A PNG without an alpha channel is rejected with a user-facing error rather than shown as if it were transparent. This prevents a checkerboard preview from misrepresenting an opaque result.
The browser then draws the result into a canvas that uses an alpha-enabled context. The preview is encoded as WebP, and the download path is encoded as PNG. Canvas drawing keeps the transparent pixels instead of compositing them onto a default white background.
For text prompts, start with the Qwen-Image-2.1 prompt guide. To isolate an existing photo, use the remove background from image workflow. The core generator remains available on the Pellucen homepage.
How to check and use a transparent PNG
Open the downloaded file in an editor that exposes the alpha channel. Place a colored rectangle behind it, hide the rectangle, and inspect the layer. If the background becomes white when the layer is hidden, the file was flattened. If it becomes transparent, the alpha data survived.
When exporting from Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, Figma, or another editor, preserve the alpha channel and choose PNG. Avoid quick exports that merge visible layers or fill the canvas with a background color. For web use, test both PNG and WebP and select the smaller file that retains the required edge quality.
Does a transparent PNG use the alpha channel?
Yes. A PNG can store red, green, blue, and alpha values for each pixel. The alpha value controls how much of that pixel is visible when the image is placed over another layer.
Why not use JPEG for transparent images?
JPEG stores no alpha channel. Saving a transparent image as JPEG requires flattening it onto a solid color, which permanently removes transparency.
Should I download WebP or PNG if I need transparency?
WebP can also store transparency and often produces a smaller file. PNG remains the safer general-purpose export for design software, print assets, and workflows that expect a lossless raster format.