How to crop a photo to a square for a WhatsApp DP or profile picture

Open Crop image, tap 1:1 under Aspect ratio, drag the square over your face, choose JPG under Save as and download. Profile pictures on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, X and most other apps start as a square, so a square you framed yourself avoids the app picking the middle of the photo for you.

Steps

1. Open Crop image and drop in the photo, or click to choose it.
2. Under Aspect ratio, tap 1:1. The box becomes a square and stays square while you drag.
3. Drag the box to centre your face, and drag a corner to zoom in or out.
4. Leave Shape on Rectangle. The app will round it for you; a square file works everywhere.
5. Under Save as, choose JPG for a photo.
6. Look at the pixel size in the result, then press Download.

Framing a face for a round display

Most apps show the profile picture as a circle, which cuts off the corners of your square. Frame for that:

• Put your eyes about a third of the way down the square, not in the exact middle.
• Leave space around the head; anything in the corners will disappear.
• Zoom in more than feels natural. A profile picture is shown small, often under 200 pixels across, and a face that fills most of the square reads better.

Sizes some platforms suggest

You do not need an exact size for a profile picture; the app scales it. If you want to match a platform's suggestion, pick it under Social sizes and turn on Export at exact size:

Choosing one of these switches the crop to a circle, since that is how they are displayed. A circle crop saves as PNG with see-through corners; if you want a plain square instead, switch Shape back to Rectangle, which keeps the 1:1 shape. WhatsApp publishes no pixel size; a square of 500 pixels or more from a phone photo looks sharp.

Crop first, then shrink if needed

Some sites, such as job portals and school systems, want a square photo under a certain file size. Cropping already makes the file smaller, because there are fewer pixels. If it is still over the limit, open the square in Compress image and pick the target. For a form that also names exact pixels, resize the photo to those pixels after cropping.

A square without cutting anything off

If cropping would cut off something you need, such as a logo with text or a wide group photo, you can make the picture square by adding space around it instead. In the photo editor, open Canvas and tap Make square; it extends the canvas with a fill colour you choose, and the whole picture stays in.

Questions

Will cropping make my photo blurry?

No. Cropping keeps the area inside the box at its original resolution. It only looks soft if you crop a tiny part of a small photo and it is then shown large.

Why is the circle option saving a PNG?

A circle needs transparent corners, and JPG cannot store transparency. Circle crops always save as PNG.

Is my photo uploaded to crop it?

No. The crop is made in your browser and the photo stays on your device.

Can I crop a screenshot to a square?

Yes. Any JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or AVIF your browser can open works. Save screenshots as PNG to keep text sharp.