How CRABOY removes a background without uploading the photo.
CRABOY is a background remover that runs in your browser. The cutout is computed on your own computer, on its graphics card where the browser allows, and the photo and the result never leave it. What does travel is CRABOY itself, its models once, and your account.
On your computer never sent
Your photoIts pixels, its file name, its metadata. Read from your disk into the tab.0 B sent
The cutoutComputed in the tab, on your graphics card where the browser allows; every file you save.0 B sent- Your projectEdits, backgrounds and layout, kept in this browser’s storage.0 B sent
Over the network none of it is the photo
- CRABOY itselfThe page and its program, from craboy.com or app.craboy.com.On load
- The modelsAbout 230 MB for Studio with a graphics card, about 190 MB without; kept for next time.Once
- Your account, in the editorSign-in, the credits for each processed image, the offline license.Per image
- Prices, on the home pageThe published prices and whether you are signed in, from app.craboy.com.On load
What downloads, once
The first cut downloads what that quality needs, and the browser keeps it, so the next photo starts without the download. The demo on craboy.com runs Studio: its models are about 230 MB with a graphics card and about 190 MB without one. Each quality downloads its own files the first time you choose it. With Data Saver on, the demo asks before it downloads anything.
As with any download, the server that sends a file sees your IP address and your browser. Nothing about your photo goes with the request.
Where the cut runs
In the browser tab. Where the browser provides WebGPU, CRABOY runs on your graphics card; without it the cut runs on the processor, and Studio and Max skip their fine-edge pass. Studio cuts in two passes, the second redrawing every edge at full resolution for hair, fur and soft edges; Max also takes a closer look at a subject that is small in the frame.
The editor opens a photo at its original resolution, up to 58 megapixels on a computer with enough memory; a larger photo is fitted, never refused. Your photo is read from your disk, cut, edited and saved back to your disk without a server in between.
Check it yourself in 30 seconds
- Open the demo on craboy.com, the section that starts “Remove a background here”.
- Open your browser’s developer tools: F12, or Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows and Cmd+Option+I on a Mac, in Chrome, Edge or Firefox. Choose the Network tab.
- Drop a photo of your own, or press one of the samples.
- Read the list. The first time, it fills with model files coming in. Sort by size, or open any request and look at what it sent: no request carries your photo.
The page measures it too. Before the cut, the demo shows what your photo weighs, which is what an upload would have to send; while it cuts, it counts the network requests the tab makes, from the browser’s own record of them. Where a browser keeps no such record, the page says so and claims nothing.
Without a connection
With Unlimited (monthly, yearly or the three-year pass), the editor also opens without a connection once its models have downloaded: a 7-day license on up to 2 computers. With credits, each processed image is counted by the account server, so the editor needs to reach it.
Upload-based or in the browser
| Upload-based remover | CRABOY, in the browser | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the cut is computed | On the service’s servers | On your computer |
| What travels | Your photo goes up, the result comes back | CRABOY and its models, once |
| Who holds a copy | The service, as its policy says | Only you |
| First run | Starts at once | One download first, about 230 MB for Studio |
| Speed depends on | Your upload and the service’s servers | Your graphics card |
| Largest photo | The service’s upload limit | Your computer’s memory, up to 58 megapixels |
| No connection | Does not work | The editor works with Unlimited, 7 days at a time |
Questions about privacy
What does CRABOY’s server know about my images?
For the editor’s credits: that an image was processed, at which quality, on which of your computers, when, and whether it finished. Not the image, its name, its size or what is in it.
Is it safe to remove a background in the browser?
The photo never leaves your computer, so no copy sits on a server to be kept, leaked or reused. The page’s security policy limits where it may connect: its own site, the account server and the hosts the model files come from.
Why is the first cut slower?
It includes the download. After that, on an Apple M-series laptop with the models already downloaded, Studio took 5.7 to 9.5 seconds for each of the six sample photos on craboy.com.
Can I remove what was downloaded?
Yes. Clearing this site’s data in your browser’s settings removes the models and any project kept there; the next cut downloads the models again.