diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/FriendsDialog.ui b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/FriendsDialog.ui
index 094ffe042..beb9a68e5 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/FriendsDialog.ui
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/FriendsDialog.ui
@@ -145,17 +145,14 @@
           </property>
           <item row="0" column="0" rowspan="2">
            <widget class="AvatarWidget" name="avatar">
-            <property name="minimumSize">
-             <size>
-              <width>61</width>
-              <height>61</height>
-             </size>
+            <property name="sizePolicy">
+             <sizepolicy hsizetype="Maximum" vsizetype="Maximum">
+              <horstretch>0</horstretch>
+              <verstretch>0</verstretch>
+             </sizepolicy>
             </property>
-            <property name="maximumSize">
-             <size>
-              <width>61</width>
-              <height>61</height>
-             </size>
+            <property name="scaledContents">
+             <bool>false</bool>
             </property>
            </widget>
           </item>
diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/AvatarWidget.cpp b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/AvatarWidget.cpp
index 3422015bc..5cd9f5d79 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/AvatarWidget.cpp
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/AvatarWidget.cpp
@@ -18,12 +18,15 @@
  *                                                                             *
  *******************************************************************************/
 
+#include <QBuffer>
+
 #include <rshare.h>
 #include <retroshare/rsstatus.h>
 #include <retroshare/rspeers.h>
 #include <retroshare/rsmsgs.h>
 
 #include "gui/notifyqt.h"
+#include "util/misc.h"
 #include "gui/common/AvatarDefs.h"
 #include "gui/common/AvatarDialog.h"
 
@@ -85,19 +88,33 @@ void AvatarWidget::mouseReleaseEvent(QMouseEvent */*event*/)
 	if (!mFlag.isOwnId) {
 		return;
 	}
+	QPixmap img = misc::getOpenThumbnailedPicture(this, tr("Choose avatar"), AvatarDialog::RS_AVATAR_DEFAULT_IMAGE_W,AvatarDialog::RS_AVATAR_DEFAULT_IMAGE_H);
 
-	AvatarDialog dialog(this);
+	if (img.isNull())
+		return;
 
-	QPixmap avatar;
-	AvatarDefs::getOwnAvatar(avatar, "");
+	setPixmap(img);
 
-	dialog.setAvatar(avatar);
-	if (dialog.exec() == QDialog::Accepted) {
-		QByteArray newAvatar;
-		dialog.getAvatar(newAvatar);
+    QByteArray data;
+	QBuffer buffer(&data);
 
-		rsMsgs->setOwnAvatarData((unsigned char *)(newAvatar.data()), newAvatar.size()) ;	// last char 0 included.
-	}
+	buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
+	img.save(&buffer, "PNG"); // writes image into a in PNG format
+
+	rsMsgs->setOwnAvatarData((unsigned char *)(data.data()), data.size()) ;	// last char 0 included.
+
+//	AvatarDialog dialog(this);
+//
+//	QPixmap avatar;
+//	AvatarDefs::getOwnAvatar(avatar, "");
+//
+//	dialog.setAvatar(avatar);
+//	if (dialog.exec() == QDialog::Accepted) {
+//		QByteArray newAvatar;
+//		dialog.getAvatar(newAvatar);
+//
+//		rsMsgs->setOwnAvatarData((unsigned char *)(newAvatar.data()), newAvatar.size()) ;	// last char 0 included.
+//	}
 }
 
 void AvatarWidget::setFrameType(FrameType type)