Remove A Color (Green Screen)

Learn how to remove a single-color background from a video with the Remove a Color effect.

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Record your subject in front of a single color backdrop, add the Remove a Color effect, and then replace the background with other media. This is also known as green screen or chromakey.

green screen before example
new background after example

Note: Download our sample green screen video to practice applying this effect. Click the options button in the bottom-right corner of the sample video and select Download.

  1. Click the Visual Effects tab.
    Visual Effects tab
  2. Drag the Remove a Color effect onto media on the timeline.
    Remove a Color effect
  3. Click the Properties button to open the properties.
  4. In the properties, click the Color dropdown and click the Eyedropper button to select the color to remove from the media on the canvas.
    Select color on canvas with color picker
  5. Adjust the following properties to continue editing the color removal:
    Remove a Color properties
    • Tolerance: Drag the slider to increase or decrease the range of tints and shades for the selected color.
    • Softness: Drag the slider to smooth out pixelation and rough edges of color around the subject.
    • Defringe: Drag the slider left or right to make any remaining color less noticeable.
    • Hue: Drag the slider to adjust the color of the clip to better match a new background.
    • Invert: Select to reverse the color removal and hide everything except the color removed.
  6. To add a new background, drag media onto the track below the edited clip.
    Background clip on timeline track