How can I make a profile image crop work in both a circle and a square?

Treat the circle as a second crop of the square, not as a separate image shape you need to bake in. Put the face, logo, or other must-keep content near the center. Avoid placing important details in the square’s corners: a centered circular display excludes those corners. Leave some breathing room around the subject too, since a platform may zoom or reposition the crop. Keep the square image itself square and unmasked unless the destination specifically asks for something different. For example, Google Wallet’s event-ticket logo guidance calls for a square image, a 15% margin for its circular mask, and says not to pre-mask it. Those are Google Wallet-specific requirements, not a universal profile-image rule. [S1]

Use previews rather than assuming a fixed margin. Make a duplicate or temporary guide: on a square canvas, mark a centered circle as a visual check, then inspect whether every essential part falls inside it. The circle is a planning aid, not a claim about the service’s exact crop. If the service provides a crop preview, use that as the final check and adjust the zoom or position there. As an illustrative starting point, imagine a 1000-by-1000-pixel canvas and keep the main subject within a centered region about 600 pixels wide; that is only a design example, not a platform specification. Make the subject smaller if hair, text, or other edge details are important.

Use this quick two-view test on a duplicate of your image:

1. Square view: Check that the whole subject is balanced and not crowded against an edge.
2. Circle view: Imagine or preview a centered circle over the square. Check the top, bottom, and sides of the subject—not only its center.
3. Small-size view: Shrink the preview to roughly the size people will see on screen. Check that a face is recognizable or a logo’s key mark remains distinct; fine text may become hard to read.

For a portrait, leave room above the head and around the shoulders. For a logo, prioritize the symbol or short name, and move supporting text inward or remove it if it becomes cramped. These are composition checks, not guarantees about how every app will crop or display the file.

Keep the original safe and work on a copy. First make a square composition; then check both the square and circular previews. If the target app has a crop tool, use its preview and save the result in the format and dimensions that app requests. Requirements can differ between services, and the available source only documents Google Wallet event-ticket logos; it does not establish the right dimensions, file format, or crop behavior for profile images on other platforms. When the destination gives no guidance, test the image in its actual display context before treating the composition as final.