How to Crop a Picture into a Circle (Transparent PNG)
Make a round profile picture or logo: crop an image into a circle, squircle or rounded square and download a PNG with a transparent background. Free, no upload.
3 min read ·
To turn a photo into a circle, open Round Image Crop, add the image, choose circle, set the size in pixels, and download the PNG. The corners outside the circle are transparent, so the round image sits cleanly on any background — a website, a slide, an email signature or a document. You can also make squircle and rounded-square shapes, or fill the corners with a colour.
Crop an image into a circle
- Open Round Image Crop and add a JPG, PNG or WebP image.
- Choose the shape: circle, squircle (the rounded square used for iPhone and Android app icons) or rounded square.
- Set the output size in pixels — 400 or 800 is plenty for profile pictures.
- Keep the background transparent, or pick a background colour for the corners.
- Apply the shape and download the PNG.
Frame the face first
A circle shows the middle of a square, so the subject needs to be centred:
- Crop the photo to a square around the face with the Image Cropper, leaving a little space above the head and including the shoulders.
- Then make it round here.
As a rule of thumb, the face should take up around 60% of the circle's height. Too tight looks cramped; too loose makes the face tiny in small avatars.
Why a transparent PNG matters
JPG files can't be transparent, so a "round" JPG is really a square with white or black corners. That looks fine on a white page and terrible on a coloured one. A PNG with transparent corners works everywhere: dark mode, coloured headers, slides with backgrounds.
If you need a JPG (some sites only accept JPG), choose a background colour that matches where it will be shown.
Where round images are used
- Profile pictures: LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Discord, Slack, Teams and WhatsApp all show avatars as circles. Uploading a round-cropped version shows you exactly what people will see.
- Team pages: consistent round headshots look tidy on a website's "About us" page.
- Email signatures: a small round photo next to your name.
- Presentations: speaker photos and testimonials.
- Logos and badges: round badges for stickers and social icons.
Squircles and app icons
The squircle — a square with smoothly curved sides — is the shape of app icons on iPhone and Android. Use it for app mock-ups, icons on a website, or a softer look than a circle. For browser tab icons (favicons) in all the sizes a website needs, use the Favicon Generator.
Cut-out subject inside a circle
A popular look puts a person in front of a coloured circle. First remove the photo's background with the Background Remover (it gives a transparent PNG), then crop it round with a background colour behind — the person appears on a clean, coloured disc.
Size guide for avatars
| Platform | Upload at least |
|---|---|
| 400 × 400 | |
| X (Twitter) | 400 × 400 |
| 320 × 320 | |
| YouTube | 800 × 800 |
| Discord, Slack | 512 × 512 |
Bigger is fine — platforms scale down. Keep the file under a few megabytes.
Frequently asked questions
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The circle is cut out in your browser and the image never leaves your device.
Why does my round image have white corners in Word?
You probably saved a JPG, or the app flattened the transparency. Use the PNG with a transparent background.
Can I make an oval?
Not with this tool — circles, squircles and rounded squares only. For an oval look, crop to a rectangle and use the circle on a wide canvas.