How to Remove Objects or People From a Video With AI

To remove an object or a person from a video with AI, attach the clip to a video model that accepts video references, describe exactly what to remove, describe what should appear in its place, and list what should stay the same. The model regenerates the clip without the object and rebuilds the background behind it. In getimg.ai, attach the video as a reference in Create video, write the removal prompt, and generate; the result is a new clip and the original is kept.

How AI Video Object Removal Works

An AI video remover works by regeneration rather than by painting over pixels. Older tools asked you to draw a mask around the object on each part of the shot and then filled the gap from nearby pixels, which often left a smeared patch that moved with the camera. A video-to-video model takes a different route: it reads the whole clip, understands the scene (street, wall, floor, the person walking through it), and generates a new version of the clip in which the object never existed.

Two things follow from this. First, there is no mask to draw. You name the object in words and the model finds it, which is why the description has to be unambiguous. Second, the model has to invent whatever was hidden behind the object. If a bicycle covered part of a brick wall, the model draws plausible brick. That works well for repeating textures (pavement, grass, sky, plaster) and less well for unique detail (a specific poster or a sign that was half covered).

How to Remove an Object From a Video in getimg.ai

1. Trim the clip to the shot you need. Each video can be up to 15 seconds long, or 30 seconds on Seedance 2.5, so a longer video is cleaned up in segments.
2. Attach the clip you want to clean up as a video reference: click it in your gallery to open it in full view with the clip already attached, or upload it with the Reference button in the Create video prompt box.
3. Write the removal prompt using the pattern below: what to remove, what replaces it, what to keep.
4. Choose one of the models that support video references (Seedance 2.5, MiniMax H3, MiniMax H3 Max, or Wan 3.0), set the aspect ratio to match your clip, and generate 2 to 4 variations.
5. Play each result next to the original and check the area where the object was, especially at the start and end of the clip.

Steps 3 and 5 are where removal edits succeed or fail, so the sections below focus on them.

What to Write in a Removal Prompt

A removal prompt needs three parts, and the middle one is the one people skip.

Identify the object precisely. "Remove the bicycle" is fine when there is one bicycle. When there are several things of the same kind, use position, color, or action: "remove the red bicycle leaning against the lamppost on the left," "remove the two people walking behind the presenter," "remove the man in the grey coat who crosses from right to left."

Describe what fills the space. Models are better at drawing something than at drawing nothing. "Show the empty sidewalk and the brick wall where the bicycle was" gives the model a target. Without it, the model sometimes swaps the object for a different one rather than clearing the space.

List what stays. Name the subject, the motion, the camera, and the timing, plus any background element near the removed object that you care about.

Three examples, each shown in the clips below:

• Edit the reference video: remove the bicycle parked against the wall. Show the empty pavement and the plain brick wall in its place. Keep the woman walking past, her pace, the camera move, and the timing the same.
• Edit the reference video: remove all passers-by in the background so the street is empty. Keep the presenter, their gestures, the framing, and the timing the same.
• Edit the reference video: remove the coffee cup from the table. Show the bare wooden tabletop where it was. Keep the person's hands, their movements, and the camera the same.

Removal can also share a prompt with one other change, such as removing tourists and switching the time to dusk, as long as both changes come before the keep list, a structure that carries over to most AI video editing prompts.

Which Shots Work Best for Removing Objects

Some shots make removal easy. Others make it a gamble. The difference is mostly about how much the model has to invent and how often the object interacts with the rest of the scene.

If you can choose between takes, pick the one where the object is smallest, furthest from the subject, and against the plainest background. Trimming the clip to the section you actually need also helps, since a shorter clip gives the object fewer moments to interact with the scene.

Removing People From a Video

Removing people is the most requested version of this edit, and it has a few specifics of its own.

Describe who to remove

Describe people by what makes them distinct in the shot: clothing, position, direction of travel. "The person in the yellow jacket who enters from the left at the start" is far more reliable than "the extra person." For crowds, it is usually cleaner to ask for the outcome ("an empty street with no people other than the cyclist") than to list each person.

Name who stays

Name the person you want to keep just as clearly. In shots with two people walking together, the model needs to know which one stays: "Keep the woman in the blue dress, her walk, and her expression the same."

Watch the contact points

If the person you remove was touching something (a door, a railing, another person's shoulder), check that the object or person they touched still behaves naturally. A door that swings open with nobody pushing it is a common giveaway; fix it by adding "the door stays closed" to the prompt or by trimming the clip.

Mind consent and rights

Removing bystanders from your own footage is a normal cleanup task. Removing a person from footage you do not own, or editing someone out of a record of an event, raises different questions, so keep this edit to footage you have the rights to use.

Common Pitfalls and How to Fix Them

When none of the variations is clean, change one instruction at a time and generate again from the original clip. If the object is large and the background behind it is unique, consider a hybrid: remove the object with AI, then use the edited clip only for the part of the shot where the object was visible.

When AI Removal Is Not the Right Tool

AI removal is fast and needs no masking, but it is not the answer to every cleanup job. For a broadcast deliverable where a background must match the original exactly, a frame-by-frame compositing workflow is still the safer route. For a static photo, removing objects or people from an image is simpler and more precise. For logos and brand marks in footage you plan to use commercially, removal can help, but it does not replace clearing rights for anything else that remains in the shot.

For social, marketing, and campaign work, where the goal is a clean, believable shot rather than a forensic match, AI removal saves a reshoot or hours of rotoscoping. The remove object from video workflow in getimg.ai keeps the original and every version side by side, so you can always go back. Commercial use of the edited clip is allowed, subject to our terms and applicable third-party rights.

The Bottom Line

Removing something from a video with AI comes down to three instructions: what to remove, what should appear in its place, and what stays the same. Small objects in the background of steady shots disappear most cleanly; large objects, objects the subject touches, and fast camera moves need more attempts or a tighter shot. Name shadows and reflections along with the object, and check the area where it used to be across the whole clip before you use the result.

Clean up a clip in Create video