Removing the Background in DaVinci Resolve

The short answer

DaVinci Resolve can remove a background from recorded footage in two main ways. Chroma keying removes a solid, evenly lit backdrop such as a green or blue screen. Rotoscoping-style isolation uses Magic Mask to separate a person from an ordinary background without a coloured screen. Chroma keying works in the free version. Magic Mask has historically been a feature of the paid Studio version, so check which edition you have before planning around it.

Two conditions limit this answer. First, Resolve works on recorded clips. It is not a live virtual camera, so it cannot remove your background during a video call as it happens. Second, background removal changes only the picture. The audio recorded by a webcam microphone, or any other microphone, passes through untouched.

What "removing the background" means in Resolve

In video editing, removing a background means creating a key. A key is a matte that marks which pixels to keep and which to make transparent. The transparent area can then show another image, a solid colour or nothing, depending on what sits beneath the clip on the timeline or how you export. The quality of the result depends far more on the source footage than on the software. Even lighting, a clean separation between subject and backdrop, and sharp focus all make a usable key much easier to achieve.

Method | Best suited to | Where it is usually found | Edition note

Chroma key (3D Keyer or HSL qualifier) | Footage shot against a green or blue screen | Color page, Qualifier palette | Available in the free version

Delta Keyer / Ultra Keyer | Green-screen footage that needs finer control over edges and spill | Fusion page; some keyers also appear as effects on the Edit page, depending on version | Available in the free version

Magic Mask | Footage with an ordinary, non-uniform background | Color page | Historically a Studio-only feature; confirm for your version

Menu names and locations have changed between Resolve releases. The paths below reflect the general layout of recent versions, so confirm them against the version you are running.

Keying a green or blue screen on the Color page

• 1. Place the green-screen clip on a video track above the background you want to show through, or on its own if you only need transparency.
• 2. Open the Color page and select the clip's node in the node editor.
• 3. Open the Qualifier palette and choose the 3D qualifier mode.
• 4. Drag a line across the green or blue area in the viewer to sample it. Add more samples for unevenly lit areas.
• 5. Invert the selection so that the subject, rather than the backdrop, is the area you keep.
• 6. In the node editor, right-click an empty area and add an alpha output. Then connect the node's key output to that alpha output.
• 7. Use the Matte Finesse controls, such as clean black, clean white and blur, to tidy the edges. Use the despill option to reduce green or blue fringing on the subject.

Check the result by switching the viewer's highlight or matte view. In a usable matte, the subject is solid white and the backdrop is solid black, with no grey speckles. Then return to the Edit page and confirm that the lower track shows cleanly through the removed area.

Keying in Fusion for more edge control

The Fusion page offers dedicated keying tools, including the Delta Keyer. A typical setup places the keyer between the clip's input and the output. You pick the backdrop colour with the keyer's eyedropper, then refine the matte and the spill suppression with the keyer's own controls. To place the result over a new background inside Fusion, combine the keyed footage with the new image using a merge tool. Fusion is generally the better choice when hair, motion blur or semi-transparent edges need more careful handling than the Color page qualifier provides.

Removing a background without a green screen

Magic Mask, on the Color page, lets you mark a person or object with a stroke. Resolve then tracks that selection across the clip. You invert or route the mask in the same way as a qualifier key and connect it to an alpha output for transparency. Expect to make manual corrections where the subject overlaps similar colours or moves quickly. This tool may not appear if you are using the free edition.

Keeping transparency when you export

Most common delivery formats have no alpha channel, so the removed background will render as black. If you need a transparent file for use in another program, choose a format and codec on the Deliver page that supports alpha and enable the alpha export option. If you only need the final composite with a new background, a standard format is enough, because the transparency has already been filled.

What this means for the speech you recorded

Keying, masking and compositing act only on video. Your voice track keeps exactly the level, noise and room sound it had when you recorded it. Background removal therefore cannot fix a quiet, noisy or echoey webcam microphone recording. Audio cleanup is a separate step, normally done on the Fairlight page or with audio effects on the timeline. Some recent Resolve versions include voice-focused noise-reduction tools, but their availability depends on version and edition.

Planning matters in one area. A green-screen setup often puts more distance between you and the camera so that the backdrop can be lit evenly. A microphone built into the webcam then sits farther from your mouth. A webcam microphone generally picks up more room sound and less direct voice as that distance grows. This is a general acoustic principle, not a measured figure for any particular webcam. If the keyed setup moves you away from the camera, consider a separate microphone placed closer to you. Make a short test recording before the real session.

Limits of this guide

No version-specific documentation or test results were supplied for this article. Exact menu labels, which tools appear on which page, and which features require the Studio edition should all be checked against your installed release. This guide also does not cover live background removal for video calls, which requires virtual camera or conferencing software rather than Resolve.