The right size for avatars
Profile pictures are displayed small, often between 32 and 200 pixels across, but on high-resolution screens they need roughly twice those pixels to look sharp. A 400 × 400 pixel square covers that comfortably. It is the size X recommends, and it is accepted by LinkedIn, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, GitHub, Gravatar, Zoom and countless forums and community sites. Uploading a correctly sized square also prevents the platform from choosing its own crop.
Framing a good profile photo
- Head and shoulders: your face should take up about 60% of the frame.
- Centre for the circle: most platforms mask avatars as circles, which cuts off the corners of the square.
- Simple background: plain or softly blurred backgrounds keep the focus on your face at small sizes.
- Good light: soft, even light from the front is more flattering and compresses more cleanly.
Size limits and formats
Most platforms accept JPG and PNG avatars up to a few megabytes, and a 400 × 400 JPG is typically only 20–60 KB, so it will never hit those limits. If a platform asks for a larger minimum, for example 800 × 800 for some team chat tools, use the custom size option in the resize tool and the same framing advice applies.
How it works
Your photo, including iPhone HEIC files, is decoded in a background Web Worker and rotated according to its EXIF orientation. With “Crop to fill” the centred square is selected, then resampled to 400 × 400 with the Lanczos3 filter, which retains detail in eyes and hair better than simple scaling. Location metadata is removed in the process, which is wise for an image that will be public.
Need a transparent round avatar?
Some uses, such as email signatures, presentations and website team pages, need the circle baked into the image. Use Circle Crop to export a round PNG with a transparent background, then resize it if needed.
Related sizes: 1080 × 1080 for square posts and 1584 × 396 for LinkedIn banners.