What is the difference between Crop and Fit?
Crop uses the shorter side of the photo as the starting square, then zooms in if you ask it to. The circle covers about three quarters of that square. The corners are gone. That is what you want for a portrait, because an empty margin around a face looks like a mistake at 32 pixels.
Fit divides the inner diameter by the diagonal of the photo. Every corner of the rectangle lands on the circle, so a wordmark or a product shot stays intact. The wedges between the photo and the circle are background. On a PNG those wedges can be clear. On a JPG they are a color.
When should a square become a circle by cropping?
A square already matches the circle’s bounding box. You are only choosing the center. If the subject is centered and the corners are unimportant, Crop at zoom 1 is enough. If the subject is small in the frame, raise the zoom until the safe inner square holds the part people must recognize.
A rectangle is different. A 3:2 or 16:9 photo has a lot of width that cannot fit in the circle. Crop throws that width away. Fit keeps it and makes the photo smaller. Neither result is “more circular.” Both are circles. They disagree about what to sacrifice.
How much of the square survives?
The circle inscribed in the square keeps π/4 of the area, about 78.54 percent. The four corners are the rest, about 21.46 percent. That is a property of the shape, not of this website. The geometry page prints the same figures from the formula the editor uses, including a 1200 by 800 Fit example.
If those corners hold a second person, a date, or the edge of a logo, do not discover that after you upload the avatar. Switch to Fit, or zoom out in Crop until the extra detail is inside the circle.
What should I download for another design tool?
If the other tool will mask the image itself, export Square 1:1 so you hand it a square instead of a circle. Wide photos become ovals in several editors when a circle mask is applied to a rectangle. The oval page explains that failure, and the how-to guides cover specific apps.
If you are done and the circle is the final art, download PNG. The converter does not add a watermark and does not ask for an account.
When should the converter stay on Fit?
Leave Fit on when the photo is a logo, a screenshot with text at the edges, or a product on a plain field. Crop will eat the corners even if those corners hold the only readable word. If the face is the point and the background is clutter, switch to Crop and zoom until the circle is mostly the person. The page starts on Fit so a first download does not surprise you by cutting the frame.
What does the converter decide?
An image to circle converter has two honest results. Crop fills the circle and drops the corners. Fit shrinks the whole photo so nothing is cut off and the gaps need a background. Use an image to circle converter in Crop for a face, and use an image to circle converter in Fit for a logo whose edges have to survive. The switch is in the editor on this page.
Frequently asked questions
Does Fit cut off the corners?
No. Fit scales the whole photo inside the circle. The corners of the photo stay, and the gaps around them are background.
Does Crop keep the whole photo?
No. Crop fills the circle. Anything outside the round mask is removed.
Is a square photo already a circle?
The file is still a square. The circle is a mask. The corners of the square are hidden or cleared.
Why does my logo look chopped?
You used Crop. Switch to Fit so the whole logo stays inside the circle.
Can the gaps in Fit be transparent?
Yes, on PNG or WebP. JPG fills them with the background color.
Are the area percentages measured from my photo?
The 78.54 percent figure is the circle compared with its square. Your photo’s own ratio changes how much of the original rectangle remains. The geometry page has that table.
Sources
- createImageBitmap — The browser decodes the photo on this device
- HTMLCanvasElement.toBlob — The download is written by the browser, not uploaded