via.placeholder.com/avatar

Avatar placeholders

Give it a name, get initials on a colour that is always the same for that name. Or ask for abstract shapes, an identicon or a neutral silhouette. Never a human face.

Anna%20Svensson
?bg=1c1d19&fg=ecf34d&shape=rounded
shapes/team-blue
identicon/user-42
default

URL syntax

https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/<name>[@2x][.<format>][?size=&shape=&style=&bg=&fg=&seed=&dpr=]

Every part is optional, and an avatar URL never returns an error: anything it can't make sense of becomes a sensible default.

Part	Values	Default
name	URL-encoded full name: `Anna%20Svensson` → AS. `+`, `_`, and hyphenated or dotted slugs (`anna-svensson`, `anna.svensson`) also separate words. An e-mail address uses its local part. Also `?name=`. Unicode-aware; CJK names get one character.	silhouette
format	`.png`, `.svg`, `.webp`, `.jpg`, `.gif`, `.avif` (or `?format=`). AVIF keeps the transparent corners. Other image extensions get a PNG.	png
`size`	16 to 512 px, clamped. Also `?s=`, or a path segment: `/avatar/128/Anna%20Svensson`.	128
scale	`@1x` to `@3x` (also `@1.5x`) at the end of any segment, or `?dpr=1` to `3`. See Retina.	1
`shape`	`circle`, `square`, `rounded`. JPEG and GIF have no transparency, so the corners are white there.	circle
`style`	`initials`, `shapes`, `identicon`, `silhouette`. Also as a path segment: `/avatar/identicon/<seed>`.	initials for names
`bg`, `fg`	3 or 6 digit hex (with or without `#`, URL-encoded as `%23`) or a CSS colour name. Without `fg`, initials are white or near-black, whichever contrasts better.	from the seed
`seed`	Any string. Picks the colours and pattern. Use a stable ID so two people with the same name look different.	the name as written in the URL

Examples

https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.pnginitials AS, 128 px circle
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/anna-svensson.svg?size=64slug form, SVG, 64 px
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.png?seed=user-1842colours tied to your own user ID
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.png?bg=1c1d19&fg=ecf34d&shape=roundedbrand colours, rounded square
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/128/Anna%20Svensson.webpsize as a path segment, WebP
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar?name=Anna+Svensson&size=48name as a query parameter
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/identicon/user-42.pngidenticon: mirrored 5 × 5 grid
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/shapes/team-blue.svgabstract shapes
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/default.pngneutral silhouette (also user, anonymous, undefined, …)
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.avifAVIF, transparent corners
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/%E6%9D%8E%E5%B0%8F%E9%BE%99.png李小龙 → 李

Retina: @2x and @3x

A scale multiplies the pixel size and keeps the drawing identical, just sharper:

https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%[email protected]256 × 256 (default 128, doubled)
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/64@2x/Anna%20Svensson128 × 128: the suffix can go on the size segment
https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.png?size=64&dpr=3192 × 192 via ?dpr

<img src="https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.png?size=48"
     srcset="https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Anna%20Svensson.png?size=48&amp;dpr=2 2x"
     width="48" height="48" alt="Anna Svensson">

The suffix wins over ?dpr. The output is capped at 512 px, so ?size=256&dpr=3 is 512 × 512.
E-mail addresses are safe: /avatar/[email protected] is a name, because only a trailing @<n>x counts as a scale.

URLs that look like guesses

AI tools and old templates often write avatar URLs that describe a person instead of naming one. Those get something neutral, never a face:

Descriptor slugs such as /avatar/woman-40s-smiling, or IDs such as /avatar/u/42 and /avatar/women/44, get abstract shapes seeded by the slug.
Generic words (default, user, avatar, undefined, null, …) get the silhouette.
Style names other services use map to the closest style: mp, mm and person → silhouette; pixel, retro and blocks → identicon; geometric, abstract, bauhaus, marble, beam and rings → shapes. Face styles are treated as automatic.
Parameter aliases from other services work: s, w for size; u, id, hash, email for seed; background, color for colours; rounded=false or radius=0 for a square.

With synthetic people

Every persona and mock API user comes with a matching avatar URL, seeded by the persona ID:

"avatar_url": "https://via.placeholder.com/avatar/Magnus%20Magnusson.png?seed=se-1"

Determinism and headers

Same URL, same bytes. The design is versioned (v1); a new look would be a new version.
Headers as for images: X-Placeholder: via.placeholder.com, cached for a year, CORS open. SVG avatars have a script-blocking Content-Security-Policy and an aria-label.
Every avatar file carries an embedded marker: the text Placeholder image from via.placeholder.com - replace before shipping in PNG/JPEG/GIF/WebP/AVIF metadata, or a comment plus data-placeholder attribute in SVG. Downloaded copies are still caught by placeholder-check.