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Remove the background from a video on Mac, without a green screen
Updated 29 October 2026
Short answer: CutoutXR for Mac cuts a person out of any ordinary video with AI that runs on your Mac, then exports the cut-out as transparent video (ProRes 4444, or HEVC with alpha), a green-screen MP4, or files for the HereSphere and DeoVR players on Meta Quest. You click who to keep, and only that person is kept, not everyone in the frame. Nothing is uploaded, and there are no per-minute credits.
Export formats
| Format | File | Use it in |
|---|---|---|
| Transparent ProRes 4444 | .mov with alpha, largest, highest quality | Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, Motion |
| Transparent HEVC | .mov with alpha, much smaller | Final Cut Pro, Motion, Keynote |
| Green screen | .mp4 (H.264) on broadcast green | iMovie, CapCut, phone video editors, anything with a chroma key |
| HereSphere | 2 × .mp4: the video plus a black-and-white mask | HereSphere on Meta Quest, transparent over passthrough |
| DeoVR | .mp4 on green | DeoVR on Meta Quest, with its chroma key and passthrough on |
Exports use your Mac's built-in Apple video encoders, and CutoutXR lists only the editing apps you have installed.
Steps
- Add the video. Drop in an MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI or GIF. Up to 5 minutes of each video is used. Photos work too.
- Click who to keep. Click the person, or each person you want. Objects and pets work too. On-device AI follows them through every frame.
- Fix any slips. The Problem buttons jump to moments worth a look; add a click and only that moment is re-tracked. Anti-flicker smoothing keeps the edges from strobing or wearing a halo of the old background.
- Export. Pick a format and open it in your editor, or, for HereSphere and DeoVR, open CutoutXR in the Quest Browser and save it there so the files land straight on the headset.
How it compares with other ways
- Green screen: the cleanest key, but only for footage you film in front of one. CutoutXR works on videos you already have.
- Cloud background removers: upload your video and often charge by the minute. CutoutXR runs on your Mac, so nothing leaves it, and you choose exactly who is kept.
- Rotoscoping by hand: precise but slow. CutoutXR tracks automatically and you only touch the frames that need it.
Price
Free: every 2D feature, including exports, for cut-outs up to 20 seconds with a small watermark. The paid one-time versions, opening soon, remove the watermark and the length limit. See pricing.
Requires a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 14 or later. More: watch the cut-out life-size on Meta Quest · what is an AR cut-out?