How to create a transparent text PNG

A transparent text PNG can be dropped over footage or an image without bringing a white rectangle along for the ride. Social Text Builder creates the type treatment in your browser and exports the finished overlay with an alpha channel, as nature intended.

Create transparent text

Build and export the overlay

Enter your text, choose the typography and styling, and keep the canvas background transparent. Export the result as a PNG, then place that file above your image or video in the application you already use.

Open Social Text Builder—no account is required for the demo.
Add and style your text.
Preview the composition on transparency.
Export or copy the PNG.

Use enough resolution

Create the overlay near the size at which it will be used. Scaling a small PNG up later can soften its edges. Pixels are generous on the way down and deeply unhelpful on the way back up. For video, match the intended frame size or export comfortably larger and scale down.

Keep the project editable

PNGs exported by Social Text Builder carry the project data needed to restore that layout when re-imported into the tool. Other applications see an ordinary transparent PNG. Social Text Builder sees the project hiding inside it. Useful little trick, but it does not turn the file into native Photoshop text layers.