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Forum Discussion
Why are my PNG backgrounds not transparent when I upload them to Dropbox?
I had several files (mostly logos) that had a transparent background and they all have white solid backgrounds now. I have no clue what happened but it is causing me serious issues.
Dropbox is not editing your files... it is generating a copy of the file that does not include transparency and displaying that as a "preview" of your file to improve load times on their website.
Dropbox creates the image shown in the center which includes a white background. This means that dragging and dropping this image, or right-clicking and selecting "save image as..." will result in you downloading the Dropbox preview version. HOWEVER, if you use the "Download" button on the top right of the page, you will download the un-edited version of your file.
The problem is that while this change may have shaved a fraction of a second off page load time, it seems to have screwed up a lot of people's workflows as a result. I think Dropbox needs to consider changing it back or at least find ways to ensure these common workflows result in the desired outcome.
- Rich
Super User II
Dropbox is not capable of altering your files in such a way. If the files have actually changed to have a white background (and it's not just a display problem) then something else is the cause.
What on earth could have caused that? It's every one of my png files that is in my dropbox account. Some that were not stored on my computer. It's as if they were changed to jpg. I am able to open other png files with transparent backgrounds that are not in my dropbox account and they work just fine. Dropbox is the only common denominator.
- Rich
Do you have one that you can create a link to and post here? This should be a file that doesn't contain any private information, children, sensitive/explicit material, etc. Basically, a file you don't mind showing to the rest of the Internet as an example.
Same for me. Here's the link. The hat was a transparent PNG but now has a white BG.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9sda4jrvj7fc3p/hat.png
The PNG uploaded is now 24 bit, which means no transparency. The original was 32 bit, with transparency.
This is happening to me too, this is causing problems for my business :(
- MarkAs has been said Dropbox simply cannot edit files, so you may wish to look at how they are being edited and uploaded. What applications are you using for that?
