Background Remover is a Paint.NET plugin that cuts the background out of your images using local ONNX machine-learning models — no internet connection or API keys needed.
There's a discussion thread on the Paint.NET forums here: Background Remover.
- AI-based background removal using ONNX models, run entirely on your machine.
- GPU acceleration via DirectML, with automatic fallback to CPU.
- Optional FP16 model for lower memory use and faster inference.
Grab the plugin together with the required ONNX models from the official link: https://aka.jjb-pro.com/pdn-bgrem/download
Warning
This GitHub repository does not include the model files. The download link above bundles them; see Building from Source if you're building the plugin yourself.
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Download the latest ZIP from the official download link and extract it.
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Run
Open to install.bat. It'll prompt for admin rights (needed to write into Paint.NET's Effects folder), then copy everything into place for you.If Windows blocks the PowerShell script it calls, you can also just run
installer.ps1yourself: right-click it → Run with PowerShell.
- Download and extract the ZIP from the official download link.
- Copy the BackgroundRemover folder into your Paint.NET Effects folder.
- Not sure where that is? Right-click your Paint.NET shortcut → Open file location, then open the Effects folder from there.
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Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/jjb-pro/BackgroundRemover.git
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Open
BackgroundRemover.slnxin Visual Studio 2026. -
Build the solution. By default this also copies the output into
C:\Program Files\paint.net\Effects\BackgroundRemover— run Visual Studio as Administrator, or change<PdnRoot>insrc/BackgroundRemover.csproj.
You'll still need the ONNX models from the official download link — they're not part of the repo.
Feature requests, bug reports, and pull requests are all welcome.
- Open an issue for bugs or suggestions.
- Fork the repo, make your changes, and create a pull request.