Crop an image into a circle

Why the kind of file matters

A circle is still saved in a square file. What happens to the four corners outside the circle depends on the kind of file:

• PNG: the corners are clear, so the circle sits on whatever is behind it. Right for websites, slides, documents and stickers.
• WebP: clear corners too, in a smaller file, for websites and apps that accept WebP.
• JPG: cannot be see-through, so the corners are filled with the color under See-through parts become, white at first. Fine on a white page, or on a page of the color you pick, wrong anywhere else.

Placed in a Word document, a PowerPoint slide or a web page, a PNG circle shows only the circle. If you exported a JPG by mistake, press Export again: the masked photo is still in the editor, and choosing PNG this time gives clear corners.

Rounded corners instead of a circle

For a card or an app-icon look, round the corners with a shape:

• Press U for Shapes, pick the rectangle, and set Radius in the bar above, in pixels.
• Drag a rectangle over the picture. Its exact size and place can be typed in the Properties panel.
• Choose Layer › Arrange › Send to back so the shape sits under the photo, click the photo in the Layers panel, and choose Layer › Create clipping mask (Ctrl Alt G).

The photo now shows only inside the rounded rectangle. The shape stays live, so you can change its Corner radius in Properties at any time and watch the corners follow. A radius of half the shorter side turns a square into a circle and a rectangle into a pill shape.

Like the circle, rounded corners need PNG or WebP to stay clear.

Profile pictures: circle or square?

Most social networks, chat apps and video-call apps cut your profile picture into a circle on their own. Upload the square crop to them rather than the circle: if you upload a circle, some of them fill its clear corners with black or white.

The circle file is for places that show a picture exactly as it is: an email signature, a team page, a slide with speakers' photos, a printed name badge or a sticker.

Whichever you make, keep the face in the middle third of the square and leave a little room above the head. A circle trims more at the corners than a square frame does, so a crop that looks right as a square can cut off an ear or a hairline once rounded. If the circle lands in the wrong place, press Ctrl Z back to the selection and drag it again before you add the mask.

Avatars are often shown tiny, so crop closer to the face for them than you would for a large team photo: a head that fills most of the circle stays recognizable at thumbnail size.

A ring around the circle

With the masked photo selected in Layers, open Effects in the Properties panel and tick Outline. The outline follows the circle, so it becomes a ring of color: white for a clean sticker look, black for contrast, or any color from the color well. Set its Width, from 1 to 200 pixels.

The ring is drawn outside the circle, so it needs room. After Crop to selection, choose Image › Canvas size… and add twice the ring's width to both sides, with the picture kept in the middle.

To make a matching set for a team page, give each photo the same circle, the same ring and the same export width, such as 800 pixels. You can also add a name under the circle before exporting, or take the ring's color from the photo itself with the Eyedropper.