P: Download Video with Transparent Background in Adobe Express

[Pete25385998jj33]

Greetings, 

I am building featuring digital avatars that render as videos.  The renderings feature an animated avatar with audio infront of a green screen.  I pulled the video into Express, removed the background and made the canvas background transparent as well.  Thought this would be all I needed to do and that downloading the mp4 from Express would produce a video with just the avatar and no background color.  Alas, I was wrong, and there's a grayish background on the video.  Anyone know how to download the video with no background so that only the avatar is showing?

Thank you!

[Pete25385998jj33]

Sorry, the first sentence should've been "I am building a simulation featuring digital avatars..."  

[thejanebradbury]

The video format mp4 doesn't support alpha channel transparency, so it has to have a background of some desscription. Removing backgrounds from videos is great for overlaying videos one on top of the other within Adobe Express, but there always needs to be a background for mp4 videos. 

Ultimately you would need to put a background in that you could remove elsewhere e.g. a green screen in effect to remove in Premiere Pro and save in a format that supports transparency. 

[Pete25385998jj33]

Ahh, thank you Jane.  I typically use Camtasia for video editing and have been avoiding Premiere Pro because I'm a coward, but I guess it's time to dive in.  So, to clarify, exporting a video with no background is an affordance with Premiere Pro?  

Thank you so much!

[thejanebradbury]

Hello Pete, to be honest although I use Premiere Pro I'm not an expert on videos with transparent backgrounds. All I know is that mp4 doesn't support it. A quick Google search tells me that "Many video formats and codecs support transparency channels: WebM (VP8 and VP9), MOV/QuickTime (HEVC, Apple ProRes 444), FLV, and AVI. The main difference lies in the coding efficiency and the maximum alpha bit-depth." It doesn't really matter what editor you use to get to that format - and of course what your end use is for the video might be important too. You could also try the Premiere Pro Community Forum here for further help or if you use Discord there's an Adobe Video channel https://discord.gg/adobepremiere

Hope that helps and good luck!

[Retro80sGuy]

So Adobe offers this Premium Service (the ability to upload a video and remove the background) but then offers no way to download the resulting video with said transparent backgound.

Brilliant!

[kind_society5E49 · Accepted solution]

I just put a green background in adobe express -- download the video in mp4 -- import into Premiere -- Video effects -- Keying -- Color Key -- Select green color -- adjust Color Tolerance -- et voilà. 

[Gabriela28001588t346]

I'm trying to export a tittle video with transparent background from Adobe Express. I want to use it in Premier Pro afterwards to make my edit more cute, and save time doing it there. Why does it not work? Why does the transparent background export in a BLACK background?? When I use it in Premier Pro it comes with the BLACK BACKGROUND when I originally exported it in a TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND. I hope somebody can assist me on this because it is really annoying trying to decipher this complex software when it's meant to be "user friendly ". 

I already read that Premier Pro has an options with something with "animation" and "alpha" when exporting it. But, why take that long route when you have AE to make it "simpler and easier." It does not work! 

[Glenn 8675309]

Pick a different format other than mp4- it's can't handle alpha channel stuff (transparency).You probably exported to .264/MP4-- that alone makes virtually impossible for you to use your character video. 

Adobe express is not a video editing program-  Use Premier Pro to do it.

[Gabriela28001588t346]

Understood. Thank you for explaining that!! I looked it up and it should work if I do it as a GIF on Canva with a subscription. I appreciate the help and time so I don't have to wonder about this anymore. 

[OGW Eggstrawdinery]

Check out this conversation, there's a way around it but it's bonkers that Adobe is not allowing to download in various formats with transparency and is showing a transparency setting that is actually not working.
What's the point of trying to copy Canva when you're not even allowing the most basic setting...
https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-express-discussions/downloading-a-video-with-transparent-backgr... 

[Amitej S]

Learn how to use Green Screen with Adobe Express here: https://adobe.ly/4n7P5Ch;