Edok Studio Edok Studio
Free tool

Alpha channel remover for app store screenshots

Google Play and the App Store refuse a PNG that carries an alpha channel — even when nothing in it is transparent. Drop yours in and get back a real 24-bit PNG with the channel gone.

Runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded

Drop your PNGs here

Up to 8 at a time — and nothing leaves your browser

Background
Output

Changes re-run your files

The rule both stores actually apply

Apple’s screenshot specification is one sentence long on this point: images can’t include alpha channels or transparencies. Google’s asset requirements say the same thing in the format itself — screenshots and the feature graphic must be JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha.

Read that carefully, because it is the part that costs people an afternoon: 24-bit means three channels. A PNG with four channels is a 32-bit file, and it is refused whether or not a single pixel in it is see-through. The store does not say which file was wrong or why — the upload just fails validation.

This is why the rejection looks random. Design tools write RGBA by default. Two exports that look identical on screen can differ only in a channel you cannot see, so one goes through and the other does not.

Why re-saving it somewhere else does not fix it

Nearly every browser-based image tool re-encodes through an HTML canvas, and browsers always write canvas PNGs as 32-bit RGBA no matter what was drawn on them. So the file comes back flattened, visually correct, and still carrying the channel that got it rejected in the first place.

This page writes the PNG byte by byte instead: colour type 2, eight bits per channel, filtered and deflated the way any encoder would, with no alpha channel in the file to begin with. The transparent pixels are composited onto the background colour you choose before encoding, so what you see is what gets written.

The one asset that must keep its alpha

Google Play’s 512 × 512 app icon is the exception, and it goes the other way: it must be a 32-bit PNG with alpha, under 1024 KB. Strip that one and the Play Console will refuse it. Everything else — every screenshot, the 1024 × 500 feature graphic, and every App Store image — must have none.

Next

Check the size too Why screenshots get rejected Every store screenshot size

Frequently asked questions

Why does the store reject a PNG that has no visible transparency?

Because the rule is about the channel, not the pixels. Apple’s screenshot specification says images "can’t include alpha channels or transparencies", and Google asks for a 24-bit PNG with no alpha — so a fully opaque 32-bit RGBA file is refused even though it looks identical to a valid one. Design tools write that channel by default, which is why the rejection feels arbitrary.

I already re-saved it in another online tool and it was still rejected.

Almost every browser-based image tool re-encodes with the canvas, and every browser writes canvas PNGs as 32-bit RGBA regardless of what is in them — so the alpha channel comes straight back. This page writes the PNG itself, as colour type 2, so the channel is not in the file at all.

Are my screenshots uploaded anywhere?

No. The file is decoded, flattened and re-encoded in your browser, and the download is a blob your own tab created. Nothing is sent to us, so there is nothing for us to store — you can disconnect from the network and it still works.

Does it change the image quality?

PNG output is lossless: nothing is resized or resampled, and opaque pixels are written through unchanged. Only genuinely transparent pixels change, because they get composited onto the background colour you pick. An embedded colour profile is not carried over — the output is plain sRGB, which is what a store listing wants.

Should I strip the alpha channel from my Google Play app icon?

No. The 512 × 512 Play app icon is the one store asset that must be a 32-bit PNG with alpha. Screenshots, the feature graphic and every App Store image must have none — so run those through here and leave the icon alone.

What background colour should I choose?

Whatever the design assumed. White is right for most screenshot sets because that is what a transparent layer was composited against in the design tool. If your screenshots sit on a dark canvas, pick the same dark colour — otherwise a soft shadow or a rounded corner turns into a pale halo.