# Transparent Gif Programs; Free?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-gif-programs-free/231984>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 1, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-gif-programs-free/231984 "2004-03-01T22:44:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-gif-programs-free/231984/1 "2004-03-01T22:44:18Z")

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For some reason, my preferred image editing program no longer turns a Gif’s color I designated to be transparent. Are there any simple, free programs that can do this? Thanks.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-gif-programs-free/231984/2 "2004-03-01T23:18:57Z")

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Run it through irfanview:

[http://download.com.com/3000-2192-10021962.html](http://download.com.com/3000-2192-10021962.html)

I find it a handy utility to have around in general.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-gif-programs-free/231984/3 "2004-03-01T23:27:55Z")

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That is, if you are on Windows, of course.

irfanview isn’t really an editor, but it’s a nice tool for performing conversions between formats and doing routine manipulations like setting a .gif transparency color (it’s an option on the .gif format save screen, rather than being presented as a property of the image, though. Sometimes irfanview does have a rather idiosyncratic UI).

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-gif-programs-free/231984/4 "2004-03-02T00:07:54Z")

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[The Gimp: Making Colors in a GIF Transparent](http://www.aplawrence.com/Linux/crousegif.html) – If you don’t like Windows and/or closed-source software.

(The Gimp is the swiss-army chainsaw of image manipulation programs in the Open-Source world. It’s widely used in Linux, the BSDs, and other Unix-derived OSes (including MacOS X), but I think Windows ports exist.)