Why the format matters here
A circular image is still stored in a rectangle — what makes it look round is that the corners are transparent. Only PNG and WebP can hold that, which is why the result is a PNG.
Save the same crop as a JPG and the corners fill with solid colour, giving you a circle sitting inside a visible square. That is the mistake behind most avatars with an unexplained white box around them.
Where it will and will not show as a circle
Many platforms mask avatars into a circle themselves — Slack, Teams, most forums — and for those a square crop is enough. A round PNG matters where nothing is masking it: an email signature, a slide, a CV, a website you are building.
Where the platform does mask, uploading an already-round image still helps, because you have chosen exactly what falls outside the circle.
Getting the framing right
Avatars are usually shown very small. Crop tighter than feels comfortable — head and shoulders, not head to waist — or you become an unrecognisable dot in a list. Leave a little space above the head so the crop does not look like it is squeezing you.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there a white square around my circle?
The image was saved as JPG somewhere along the way. JPG cannot store transparency, so the corners became solid. Keep it as the PNG this produces.
What size should an avatar be?
A square between 400 and 800 pixels covers almost everything. Larger is wasted — it will be scaled down — and smaller looks soft on high-resolution screens.
Can I get an oval instead of a circle?
Not here. Crop to the rectangle you want with the ordinary crop tool first, then circle-crop it — the circle follows the shorter side of what you give it.
Is the photo uploaded?
No. It is drawn onto a canvas in your browser with a circular clip and saved from there. A profile photo never reaches a server.
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