How-to
How to make product photos with a white background
September 2026
There are three ways to get a product photo onto white: shoot it on a white sweep, cut the product out and fill the canvas white, or flatten a transparent PNG onto white. All three can still fail the same way — the canvas reads 250,250,250 instead of 255,255,255, or compression leaves a grey fringe around the edges after export.
This page walks the workflow and then tells you what to verify, because the file you upload is the export, not the version you were looking at while editing.
What each marketplace asks of the background
| Marketplace | Background rule |
|---|---|
| Amazon (main image) | Pure white, RGB 255,255,255 — a published requirement |
| Shopee (cover) | A clean background, white preferred; a plain single colour or a gradient of up to three dominant colours also counts |
| Lazada | Reported as white cover; Fernpix could not confirm this on a public Lazada page |
| TikTok Shop | Reported; the policy page is not readable without a seller login |
| Fernpix check | RGB 255,255,255 — the strict reading, so one export clears every profile |
Why a photo that looks white still fails
A softbox sweep usually lands somewhere between 248 and 252, not 255. On a laptop that reads as white; to a pixel check it is grey. The other common miss is the halo: a cutout leaves a one-to-two pixel edge of the old background, and JPEG compression spreads it. Both pass the eye and fail the gate.
Option 1 — shoot it on white
Cheapest if you are still taking the photos. Light the backdrop separately from the product so the sweep blows out to true white, and keep the product off the backdrop so its own shadow does not land in frame. You will usually still need one pass to push the background the last few levels to 255.
Option 2 — cut out, then fill white
Best for photos you already have, including phone shots on a table. Remove the background, then fill the canvas with #FFFFFF rather than leaving it transparent, because marketplaces flatten transparency onto their own colour. Leave a small margin so the product does not touch the edge, and keep the product between about 70% and 90% of the frame — Shopee rejects a cover whose main body exceeds 90%.
Option 3 — flatten a transparent PNG
If you already have a cutout saved as a transparent PNG, you are one step away: composite it onto a white canvas and export as JPEG. Do not upload the transparent PNG itself. Transparency is where grey edges appear, because the marketplace picks the backing colour, not you.
Verify the export, not the edit
Re-check the file after compression. Dropping JPEG quality to hit a 2 MB cap can reintroduce a fringe that was not in the source, and resizing resamples the edge pixels. Check the exported file, at the size you are going to upload.
Where the marketplaces differ
Amazon publishes pure white for the main image and about 85% product fill. Shopee asks for a clean background and caps the main body at 90%, leaving the background at least 10%. Read the profile for your channel rather than reusing one export everywhere.
Amazon image size and rules →Shopee image size rules →Lazada image size rules →
Before you upload
- Background samples as 255,255,255 — not 250,250,250.
- No halo or grey fringe at the product edge after export.
- No shadow touching the canvas, unless the channel allows it.
- Product roughly 70–90% of the frame, not touching the edges.
- Exported as JPEG or PNG, under the channel's file cap.
- Re-checked after compression, at upload size.
FAQ
How do I make a product photo background pure white?
Either shoot on a lit white sweep, or remove the background and fill the canvas with #FFFFFF. Then verify the exported file: a sweep normally reads 248–252, which is not white to a pixel check.
Should I upload a transparent PNG instead?
No. Flatten it onto white and export JPEG or PNG. With transparency the marketplace chooses the backing colour, and that is where grey edges come from.
Does every marketplace require pure white?
No. Amazon publishes RGB 255,255,255 for the main image. Shopee asks for a clean background and says white is preferred, so a plain single colour can pass. Fernpix checks the strict version so one export clears every channel.
Are my photos uploaded to Fernpix?
No. The check and the fix both run in your browser.