A Discord avatar is a small graphical image, equivalent to a profile picture (pfp), and is used to customize a user or server profile. While Discord avatars are little, they are an essential graphic that allows individuals, communities, and businesses to communicate their brands and can even impact other people’s perceptions of you.
There are three specific avatars types:
- User avatars
- Server avatars
- Nitro avatars
For user avatars, setting an avatar on your profile is one way to customize your account. The chosen avatar can help to convey your personality and interests.
For server avatars, setting an avatar is also one way to customize your Discord server. Your chosen avatar allows users to be able to recognize your server from a list of servers in which they are also a member. Make sure to select a unique avatar that resembles your community and helps your server stand out.
For Nitro avatars, users that have paid for premium access to Discord will be able to set an animated avatar, that when hovered over by a mouse cursor, will display the graphic’s animation if set.
Where Discord Avatars Appear
Avatars will appear in many different locations inside the application, as well as outside of it.
Inside Discord, avatars are mostly visible when users participate in chat and voice channels, inside direct or group messages, as well as by being in a community member list. Outside of Discord, if enabled, the avatars can appear inside of chat overlays that allow people to see who’s actively speaking when a game is in full-screen mode.
Avatars may appear as part of websites or community forums and other areas where APIs are using information from specific Discord servers.
Discord Avatar Requirements and Limitations
Discord avatars are limited in their use, and as all things in software, there are requirements. There are a few things to know when it comes avatars:
- For free accounts, when uploading an Avatar image, it must be a .jpg or .png file type.
- For a paid Nitro account, users may upload animated .gif file types as well.
- Avatar image files do not have to be exact size when uploaded, but Discord’s image resizer and cropper tool will automatically reduce the size and crop the image to fit 128×128 pixels.
- Discord has a rate limit in place, of 10 minutes, that prevents users and bots alike from changing avatars rapidly.
- Discord accounts can only have one avatar assigned to them, regardless of how many servers they are connected to, so make sure its representative of you and the image you wish to project to the world.
Discord Avatars Status Indicator Dots
When connected to a Discord server, in certain areas where you see member lists and friend lists, you will see that a small dot or circle appears in the lower right of each user’s avatar. This dot indicates the last known status of that user.
Below are the following indicators that will appear over avatars and what each means:
- Green = Online
- Yellow = Idle
- Red = Do Not Disturb
- Purple = Streaming
- Gray = Offline
Wrapping it up
From this post, you will have a firm understanding of what a Discord avatar is, the different types of avatars there are, how avatars are used in and out of Discord, the importance of selecting the right avatar, and what Discord avatar requirements and limitations are.
With that, you’re ready to go download a cool Discord avatar and add it to your profile!