How to Crop an Image to a Circle
Circle-cropped images are used for profile photos on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, GitHub, and most web platforms. Most image editors don't offer a circular crop directly — but you can create one by cropping to square, then applying a circular mask and exporting as PNG with a transparent background.
Quick Answer
Circle-cropped images are used for profile photos on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, GitHub, and most web platforms. Most image editors don't offer a circular crop directly — but you can create one by cropping to square, then applying a circular mask and exporting as PNG with a transparent background.
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Step-by-Step Guide
5 steps · takes under 1 minute
Crop to a square first
Open the Crop tool and set the aspect ratio to 1:1 (square). Drag to frame the face or subject in the centre of the square. Download the square crop.
Use a circle crop tool
For circular output with a transparent background, upload your square image to a circle cropper such as Canva's circle crop, Adobe Express, or the free tool at crop-circle.imageonline.co. These apply a circular mask and export PNG with transparency.
Download as PNG (not JPG)
Circle crops must be saved as PNG. JPG does not support transparency — saving a circle crop as JPG will add a white or black background, making it a square image again.
Verify the transparent corners
Open the PNG in a browser or image viewer. The corners should appear as a checkerboard pattern (transparency), not white. If they show white, the file was not saved with transparency.
Resize to target dimensions
After the circle crop, resize to the required size for your platform: LinkedIn profile is 400×400px, Twitter is 400×400px, GitHub is 500×500px. Use the Resize tool for this final step.
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Pro tip
Use 75–85% quality for web images — you get 60–80% smaller files with no visible difference at normal screen sizes.
Format & File Size Comparison
Same 1080×1080px photo processed four ways
| Format | Quality | File Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNG (original) | Perfect | 4.2 MB | No compression — too large for web |
| Compressed PNG | Visually identical | 1.1 MB | −74% — transparency preserved |
| JPG (85% quality) | Excellent | 310 KB | −93% · Best for photos |
| WebP (85%)BEST | Excellent | 205 KB | −95% · Recommended for web |
Based on a 1080×1080px photo. Results vary by image content and complexity.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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