Transparent Backgrounds: Loved in Vectors & Illustrations, Rare in Photos

The story behind a simple flag

Designers crave control. When they grab an asset, they want to drop it on a page, a slide, or a feed without cropping a busy backdrop first. From 23 June to 29 June 2025 we scraped the daily top-seller lists on Adobe Stock and pulled the is_transparent flag for every file. The haul covered 360 assets, split evenly across three types:

• 120 vectors
• 120 illustrations
• 120 photos

Each JSON record carries rich metadata, but one Boolean field matters here: does the asset arrive with no background at all? We counted true values and then compared shares.

+--------------+-------------+-------+--------+
| Asset Type   | Transparent | Total | Share  |
+--------------+-------------+-------+--------+
| Vector       | 68          | 120   | 56.7%  |
| Illustration | 48          | 120   | 40.0%  |
| Photo        | 20          | 120   | 16.7%  |
+--------------+-------------+-------+--------+

Reading the table

Over half of the top vectors ship with clean PNG transparency. Four in ten illustrations do the same. Photos lag far behind, with barely one in six offering a cut-out subject. That gap raises one big question: why do camera-based assets rarely lose their backdrop while drawings shed theirs so easily? We will chase answers through file formats, workflow habits, and buyer behavior.

A closer look at the dataset

Our scraper called the Adobe Stock API at 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00 UTC each day. It logged asset IDs, titles, dimensions, and the transparent flag. Redundant entries vanished, leaving a single record per unique ID. This step matters because a hot file lingers on the chart for days, and we need true counts, not repeat votes.

The files live in three JSON bundles. Each bundle weighs about 4 MB and lists every keyword, licensing tier, and resolution line. Filter logic stayed identical across types, so no group enjoyed an unfair edge.

We processed the bundles with a short Python script that tallied transparency and printed the table above. The code ran once, but you can repeat it and reach the same counts; reproducibility keeps trust high.

PNG vs JPEG vs AI

Vectors and many illustrations export to PNG without effort. One click in Illustrator or Affinity Designer, and the white artboard turns blank. The alpha channel rides along, and any layout tool drops the file onto colored or textured ground with no halo.

Photos act differently. Most top photos land as JPEG. This older format saves bytes, but it knows nothing about alpha channels. A photographer who wants transparency must cut the subject, mask stray hair, export to PNG, and accept a larger file. That task steals billable hours and stalls bulk uploads. Small wonder only 16.7 percent of photos clear that hurdle.

Workflow pressure on creators

Vector artists often build for stock from the start. They plan flat icons, badges, or pattern tiles that buyers will mix at will. Transparency adds value, so turning it on becomes muscle memory.

Camera pros aim for emotion and storytelling. A misty ridge at sunrise works because the sky glows behind it. Stripping the clouds kills the mood. When a buyer wants an isolated subject, they head to the “isolated” category or rely on AI masks in their own editor rather than hoping the photographer did the job.

Sometimes studios do cut photos, but they bundle those assets under “object on transparent background” keywords. Such sets exist, yet they form a niche, not a chart-topping genre.

Market signals inside the numbers

Vector share: 56.7 percent
Illustration share: 40.0 percent
Photo share: 16.7 percent

The spread hints at plain demand. Art directors who need a snack icon for an app, a styled sunburst for a poster, or a doodle pack for a presentation pick vectors or flat illustrations. They drop them onto any background and move on. Photographs solve different problems: selling a mood, framing a destination, filling a hero banner. The background is part of the sale.

Does the data surprise you? I felt the same when the first counts rolled in, so I triple-checked the code and sample-scrolled each list. The pattern held.

When transparency costs speed

Stock marketplaces reward speed. Upload more files, earn more downloads. For a photographer, masking every subject would slash daily output. In contrast, vector creators lose no extra time because their artboard is already empty.

Adobe’s contributor guide supports this split. It urges illustrators to supply PNG versions, but tells photographers to avoid “unnecessary blank space,” not to remove every backdrop. Guidelines feed habits, and habits feed the numbers you see.

Buyer searches reveal the real pull of a blank canvas

Adobe Stock places a search bar above every chart. Buyers type one or two words, then flip filters. Our sample shows the power of a single tag: isolated. Among 360 top-rank items, that word appeared 52 times, yet its spread tilted toward hand-made assets. The table tells the story.

+--------------+ isolated keyword | Share  |
| Vector       | 9                | 7.5%   |
| Illustration | 23               | 19.2%  |
| Photo        | 20               | 16.7%  |
+--------------+------------------+--------+

Illustration creators boost visibility by labeling work “isolated on transparent background.” The same tactic matters less for vectors, because the format itself promises a clean edge. Photographers use the tag, yet nearly all still deliver JPEG files that keep the scene intact. One record shows every keyword at once, including “isolated,” “transparent,” and “circle.”

Why the tag pays off

Search auto-suggestions favor tags with many sales. When “isolated” climbs, the site nudges fresh uploads into that channel. Vector and illustration artists ride the wave; transparent PNG icons leap onto landing pages. Camera files tagged “isolated” rise too, but buyers soon face a full background, so bounce rates stay high. That pattern lowers the photo hit rate, feeding back into the next ranking cycle.

No price premium for a missing backdrop

We pulled extended_license_price from every JSON record. Every field shows CAD $104.99, no matter the flag, type, or creator. One transparent vector and one opaque photo cost exactly the same.

Marketplaces clearly treat transparency as a built-in perk, not an addon. Value shifts to speed: buyers download, drop, and send work to print without masking. Sellers who add alpha channels win more sales, not higher fees.

Sharpness tells another tale

Resolution shapes use cases. We computed average megapixels for every subgroup.

+--------------+ Trans Avg MP | Opaque Avg MP |
| Vector       | 15.00        | 15.00         |
| Illustration | 29.69        | 23.80         |
| Photo        | 20.24        | 24.52         |
+--------------+--------------+---------------+

Transparent illustrations run larger than opaque ones, likely because artists export high-detail packs for print. Vectors stay constant: curves scale, so raster size matters less. Transparent photos dip below opaque peers; many belong to smoke overlays and torn-paper edges that need fine masks but not billboard width. Example files show a 7 500 × 3 300 pixel smoke overlay flagged transparent.

AI background removal enters the ring

New tools claim instant, loss-free cut-outs. They trace hair, glass, and blur faster than a human can click. Today most stock photographers skip that step, yet the gap between 16.7 percent and 56.7 percent transparency hints at fresh opportunity. If AI lowers the labor to near zero, we expect more JPEG scenes reborn as PNG packs. That shift will change buyer habits again. Search filters may soon rank “background-free photo” beside “isolated illustration.”

Workflow tips for creators

• Tag wisely. Use “isolated” only when the alpha channel is real. Mis-tagged files drop in ranking after user reports.
• Export at need-based size. Icons for apps load faster at 2 000 pixels tall than at 10 000. High resolution still counts for posters.
• Preview on color. Always test the PNG over dark and light panels to catch stray pixels.
• Batch scripts help. Automate PNG exports from Illustrator or Affinity with hotkeys to save minutes per upload.

Predictions for 2026

Design budgets tighten when hours run long. Time saved on masking flows straight into reuse. We expect:

• A growing “photo PNG” shelf next to vector sets.
• Tutorials teaching camera owners to batch-mask with Firefly and Sora.
• Pricing to stay flat, since buyers already pay the same fee today.

Will photographers grab that space before AI image generators flood it? The clock ticks.

Closing thought

Alpha channels look technical, yet they reflect a creator’s mindset. Vector artists start with emptiness, so they leave it plain. Photographers start with a world, so they keep it whole. Software can rewrite that choice, but the market will decide which stories sell.