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About this tool
The Image Circle Crop tool turns any rectangular photo into a circular image with fully transparent corners, ready for use as an avatar, profile picture, sticker, badge, or design element. The tool draws your image onto an HTML5 canvas, applies a circular clipping path centered on the photo, and exports the result as a PNG with an alpha channel — so the area outside the circle is genuinely transparent rather than filled with a background color. You can drag the photo with mouse or touch to reposition it inside the circle, scale the diameter from 20% to 100% of the smallest image dimension, and add an optional feather edge for a soft falloff. Everything runs locally in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Why use it
True transparency — the corners outside the circle are alpha-zero, not white or solid.
Full browser privacy — the image never leaves your device or touches a server.
Touch-friendly drag handle works seamlessly on phones, tablets, and desktops.
Lossless PNG output preserves the original photo's resolution exactly.
Optional feather edge produces professional, soft-vignette circular crops.
Free forever with no watermark, no sign-up, and no megabyte caps.
How to use
- Click the upload field and select a photo (PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF, or any browser-decodable image).
- Drag the image with your mouse or finger to reposition it inside the circle preview.
- Adjust the Diameter slider to control how large the circle is relative to the image.
- Increase the Feather slider for a soft, gradient edge instead of a hard circle.
- Click Center to instantly recenter the image if you move it too far.
- Click Download Transparent PNG to save your circle-cropped image with alpha channel.
When it helps
- When preparing a profile photo or avatar for a platform that prefers circular images.
- When designing a logo badge, stamp, or sticker that needs a transparent round shape.
- When making a presentation or pitch deck where rectangular photos look out of place.
- When building a circular team-portrait grid for an About page or LinkedIn slide.
- When you need a transparent PNG cutout for compositing in a layered design.
- When converting a square photo to a circular icon for app stores or web buttons.
Examples
InputA 1200x1200 portrait photo
Expected resultA 1200x1200 transparent PNG with a perfect circle crop centered on the face
InputA 800x800 square logo with white background
Expected resultA 800x800 PNG with the logo inside a circle, white corners removed and transparent
InputA 1500x1000 landscape photo, feather 20px
Expected resultA 1500x1000 PNG with a soft circular vignette fading into transparency
Tips
- For perfectly centered subjects, click Center first and then nudge with small drag movements.
- Use a feather value of 4-10px for natural soft edges — anything higher creates a vignette look.
- If the source photo is rectangular, the largest possible circle equals the shorter side; reduce diameter for a smaller circle inside the canvas.
- Pair this tool with Round Avatar Maker if you need preset social-platform output sizes.
- Save as PNG (not JPG) — JPG cannot store transparency and will fill the corners with black or white.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the corners outside the circle be transparent?⌄
Yes. The exported PNG has true alpha transparency in the corners — not a white or black fill. You can drop it on any colored background.
Can I save as JPG?⌄
We only export PNG because JPG does not support transparency. A JPG would fill the corners with a solid color, defeating the purpose of a circle crop.
Does the tool upload my photo to a server?⌄
No. All cropping happens locally in your browser using the HTML5 Canvas API. Your photo never leaves your device.
What is the maximum image size supported?⌄
There is no enforced cap. Very large images (above 25 megapixels) may slow down the canvas redraw on low-memory devices.
How do I move the photo inside the circle?⌄
Click and drag the image (or touch and drag on mobile) to reposition. Click Center to reset to the middle.
What does the Feather slider do?⌄
It softens the edge of the circle using a radial alpha gradient. 0 = hard edge; higher values = wider soft transition.
Can I crop into a non-circular shape like an oval?⌄
Not yet. This tool produces a perfect circle. For ovals, use a generic image editor or our Image Crop tool with rectangular selection.
Does the output preserve the original resolution?⌄
Yes. The canvas uses the photo's natural width and height, so the PNG keeps the same pixel dimensions as the source.
Glossary
- Alpha channel
- An extra channel in PNG/WebP images that stores per-pixel transparency from 0 (clear) to 255 (opaque).
- Clipping path
- A canvas operation that restricts drawing to a defined shape — here, a circle — leaving everything outside transparent.
- Feather
- A soft transition along the edge of a mask that blends the visible area into transparency over a few pixels.
- Radial gradient
- A color or alpha gradient that fades outward from a center point — used here to create the feather effect.
- Canvas
- An HTML5 element that lets browsers render and manipulate raster pixels with JavaScript.
- Compositing
- Combining multiple image layers using transparency — easier when one layer has true alpha rather than a baked background.