Paint - transparency feature

This does not create a transparency, it will remove the selected area and replace it with the currently Background Color - white by default.  If your web page uses solid white as a background color it will have the appearance of having transparency, but in effect it is blending in.  

If you have a solid color other than white as your page background color then you can use the same steps after changing the Background Color in Paint to match.  If that is what you have then this answer is more than sufficient.

If your pages have a polychromatic or image background then images with white (or other single color) regions substituting as transparent will stand out.

Since this is not creating a transparency, but rather editing the image, save the image in a format of your choice that will retain the quality of the image. (It does not have to be GIF since this format most often reduces the quality of the image if it was originally something better, such as anything 24-bit.)

Hi Tod,

Thank you for posting your concern here at the Microsoft Community forum. Let me assist you with your concern.

With Microsoft Paint, the software included with Windows operating systems, transparency is already the default.

You may refer this steps and check if it helps.

1. Open "Paint." Click the "Paint" button in the top left corner of the work area.
2. Click "Open." Browse to the picture to add transparency into, and double-click its file name. The picture opens in the Paint work area.
3. Click the "Select" button on the ribbon. If adding a rectangular- or square-shaped transparent area, click "Rectangular Selection." Otherwise, click "Free-Form Selection."
4. Drag the cursor to fit the area to remove and make transparent. Dotted blue lines surround the area.
5. Press the "Delete" key on the keyboard. Although the area is now transparent, it shows as white on the screen.
6. Click the "Paint" button. Click "Save As." Give the picture a new name, and select "GIF" from the "Format" menu, the only file format that allows transparency. Click the "Save" button.

Because of Paint's limited capacity, the software cannot render transparency on screen. Even though Paint's default is to have a transparent background, it looks white -- like the Paint canvas -- on the screen. So, blank Paint canvases already start out transparent. Adding transparency in Paint is simply a process of removing parts of an existing picture.

Paint doesn’t have the capability to make an entire photograph or picture transparent, nor can it create transparency percentages (such as 50 percent opacity).

Using Paint

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-paint#1TC=windows-8

Hope this helps. If you need further assistance with Windows, let us know and will be glad to help.