layers → slides
Get image layers into PowerPoint: the clean way
* Free to use — the editor runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded unless you start a server step: the AI tools, or upscaling a photograph (logos and flat artwork are enlarged on your device). A free account (Google, Apple or an emailed code — no card) is needed to download the finished file, and comes with credits for the server-side tools.
Split any picture into subject, background, and objects here; insert them into PowerPoint as stacked images. Suddenly you can animate the parts separately, put text BETWEEN them, and build slides that look art-directed.
Split an image for your deck"Can you do layers in PowerPoint?" — sort of
PowerPoint stacks objects and even has a Selection Pane to manage their order, but it cannot decompose an image into parts. Its Remove Background tool produces one rough cutout. So the trick used by people whose decks look suspiciously good: split the image OUTSIDE PowerPoint, then insert the parts as separate pictures. Each part becomes a first-class PowerPoint object — animatable, arrangeable, croppable.
The two-minute workflow
Open your image in the free in-browser editor, click the parts you want with AI grab (or one-button Separate subject), then export Layer stack .zip. In PowerPoint: Insert → Pictures, select all the PNGs, and use Arrange → Bring Forward / Selection Pane to order them. Text placed between the background and subject layers gives you the "magazine cover" depth effect that flat images cannot.
Why this beats PowerPoint's Remove Background
PowerPoint's built-in tool is a rough automatic mask with clunky manual correction, it produces exactly one foreground, and it discards the background entirely. The Layersmith route gives you unlimited parts, real edge quality (see the unretouched hair-detail samples), and both halves — including an AI-reconstructed background so the subject's hole doesn't show if you shift things around.
Animate the parts, not the picture
Because every layer is its own PowerPoint object, entrance animations apply per part: background fades in, subject slides up, product rotates in. It reads as motion design, and it is five minutes of work with the standard Animations tab.
Frequently asked
Do the transparent PNGs work in Google Slides and Keynote too?
Yes — identical workflow: insert the PNGs and manage stacking order. Nothing here is PowerPoint-specific.
Will PowerPoint compress my layers?
It can, by default. The control is in File → Options → Advanced, under Image Size and Quality: tick "Do not compress images in file". It is worded as a negative, so you are selecting the box to keep full quality, not clearing one — the setting applies to the current presentation, so set it before you insert the layers.
Is a native PPTX export coming?
It's on our roadmap: one slide with each layer pre-placed as a picture. The PNG route above works today on every plan of every slide tool.
Keep reading
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