How to use the magic wand tool
- Open an image: tap Upload image, drop a file, or paste a screenshot with Ctrl/Cmd+V.
- Click the colour you want to select. The marching-ants outline and blue tint show what's selected.
- Adjust: move Tolerance until the selection stops at the right edge (the last click re-runs live). Shift-click adds an area, Alt/Option-click removes one; Invert swaps inside and outside.
- Press Delete selection (background removal) or Keep only selection (cut-out), set Feather to soften the edge, then Download transparent PNG — cropped to what's left if you like.
How a magic wand decides what to select
When you click, the tool reads the colour of that pixel and compares every neighbouring pixel's red, green and blue values with it. If all three are within the tolerance — 0 means only the exact colour, 100 means almost anything — the pixel joins the selection and its neighbours are tested in turn. This is a flood fill, so with Contiguous on the selection spreads only through connected pixels and stops at the first edge that differs enough, exactly like Photoshop's magic wand. With Contiguous off, every pixel of a matching colour in the whole image is selected, which is handy for removing a colour that appears in many separate places, such as the gaps inside lettering. Because it works on colour, it is fast and predictable on solid or gently shaded areas — studio backgrounds, skies, logos, screenshots — and needs a few extra clicks where the object and background share colours. Feather then blurs the selection's edge by a few pixels so a cut-out doesn't look jagged.
What it's good at — and when to use something else
| Image | Magic wand result | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Product on a plain white or coloured background | Clean in 1–4 clicks | Tolerance 3–8, click each corner |
| Sky behind a building, tree or lighthouse | Clean with a few clicks | Gradient skies: Shift-click the darker and lighter parts |
| Logo or signature on paper | Very clean | Contiguous off to clear the inside of letters |
| Screenshot or flat graphic | Pixel-exact | Tolerance 0–5 |
| Portrait with hair against a busy background | Rough | Colour alone can't separate hair from a similar background |
Tolerance here runs 0–100 and maps onto Photoshop's 0–255 scale (100 = 255), so a Photoshop tolerance of 32 is about 12 here.
All the controls
- New / Add / Subtract — what a click does; Shift and Alt/Option switch modes for a single click.
- Tolerance — how different a colour can be and still be selected.
- Contiguous — on: only connected pixels; off: every matching pixel in the image.
- Feather (0–8 px) and Grow (−4 to +4 px) — soften the edge, or push it in or out to get rid of a halo.
- Invert, Deselect and Undo (20 steps).
- Delete selection / Keep only selection — apply it to the pixels; you can keep selecting and deleting after that.
- Download transparent PNG (optionally cropped to what's left) or Download selection as mask — a black-and-white PNG for use in other editors.
This tool vs other online magic wands
| Feature | This page | Typical online magic wands |
|---|---|---|
| Live tolerance (re-runs your last click) | Yes | Usually re-click every time |
| Add / subtract, invert, undo | Yes | Often missing on simple pages |
| Feather and grow/shrink edge | Yes | Rare outside full editors |
| Export mask as well as cut-out | Yes | Rare |
| Uploads your image | No — runs in your browser | Often yes |
| Ads, sign-up, cookie walls | None | Common |
Frequently asked questions
How do I use the magic wand tool online?
Open an image on this page and click the area you want. Adjust Tolerance until the selection fits, Shift-click to add more, then press Delete selection or Keep only selection and download a transparent PNG.
What does tolerance mean in the magic wand tool?
How far a colour can be from the one you clicked and still be selected. Low values pick only near-identical colours; high values spread into similar shades. Start low (the default is 5) and raise it a little at a time until the selection reaches the edge you want.
What is the contiguous option?
With Contiguous on, only pixels connected to the one you clicked are selected. Turn it off to select every pixel of that colour anywhere in the image.
Can I remove a background with the magic wand?
Yes, when the background is a fairly even colour. Click it, press Delete selection and download the PNG. For busy backgrounds or hair, a colour-based wand needs many clicks.
How do I make the edges smoother?
Set Feather to 1–3 px before deleting. If a thin coloured halo remains around the object, set Grow to +1 or +2 so the selection reaches a little further into it.
Is there a magic wand like Photoshop's for free?
This page works the same way as Photoshop's — tolerance, contiguous, add and subtract, feather — and is free with no sign-up. Your image stays on your device.
Are my images uploaded?
No. Selection and export run in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.
Updated · By the imagetojpg.app team