diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6
index 48b84011b48..bd0e36c5fab 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/user.js.es6
@@ -256,10 +256,10 @@ const User = RestModel.extend({
     });
   },
 
-  pickAvatar(upload_id, avatar_template) {
+  pickAvatar(upload_id, type, avatar_template) {
     return Discourse.ajax(`/users/${this.get("username_lower")}/preferences/avatar/pick`, {
       type: 'PUT',
-      data: { upload_id }
+      data: { upload_id, type }
     }).then(() => this.setProperties({
       avatar_template,
       uploaded_avatar_id: upload_id
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/preferences.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/preferences.js.es6
index e1f9d597da7..8bea9b46047 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/preferences.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/routes/preferences.js.es6
@@ -49,9 +49,12 @@ export default RestrictedUserRoute.extend({
       const user = this.modelFor('user'),
             controller = this.controllerFor('avatar-selector'),
             selectedUploadId = controller.get("selectedUploadId"),
-            selectedAvatarTemplate = controller.get("selectedAvatarTemplate");
+            selectedAvatarTemplate = controller.get("selectedAvatarTemplate"),
+            type = controller.get("selected");
 
-      user.pickAvatar(selectedUploadId, selectedAvatarTemplate)
+      if (type === "uploaded") { type = "custom" }
+
+      user.pickAvatar(selectedUploadId, type, selectedAvatarTemplate)
           .then(() => {
             user.setProperties(controller.getProperties(
               'system_avatar_template',
diff --git a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
index 22334cc9b99..ab1104e8d44 100644
--- a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
@@ -515,13 +515,13 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
 
     results = UserSearch.new(term, topic_id: topic_id, topic_allowed_users: topic_allowed_users, searching_user: current_user).search
 
-    user_fields = [:username, :upload_avatar_template, :uploaded_avatar_id]
+    user_fields = [:username, :upload_avatar_template]
     user_fields << :name if SiteSetting.enable_names?
 
     to_render = { users: results.as_json(only: user_fields, methods: [:avatar_template]) }
 
     if params[:include_groups] == "true"
-      to_render[:groups] = Group.search_group(term, current_user).map {|m| {:name=>m.name, :usernames=> m.usernames.split(",")} }
+      to_render[:groups] = Group.search_group(term, current_user).map { |m| { name: m.name, usernames: m.usernames.split(",") } }
     end
 
     render json: to_render
@@ -533,12 +533,11 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
 
     upload_id = params[:upload_id]
 
-    user.uploaded_avatar_id = upload_id
+    type = params[:type]
+    type = "custom" if type == "uploaded"
 
-    # ensure we associate the custom avatar properly
-    if upload_id && user.user_avatar.custom_upload_id != upload_id
-      user.user_avatar.custom_upload_id = upload_id
-    end
+    user.uploaded_avatar_id = upload_id
+    user.user_avatar.send("#{type}_upload_id=", upload_id)
 
     user.save!
     user.user_avatar.save!
diff --git a/app/models/upload.rb b/app/models/upload.rb
index 39e5fb94efc..bcc468d4450 100644
--- a/app/models/upload.rb
+++ b/app/models/upload.rb
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class Upload < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   # list of image types that will be cropped
-  CROPPED_IMAGE_TYPES ||= ["avatar", "profile_background", "card_background"]
+  CROPPED_IMAGE_TYPES ||= %w{avatar profile_background card_background}
 
   # options
   #   - content_type
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index b00ac21b3a2..a17e4e9baa4 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -462,8 +462,8 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def self.avatar_template(username, uploaded_avatar_id)
-    return default_template(username) if !uploaded_avatar_id
     username ||= ""
+    return default_template(username) if !uploaded_avatar_id
     hostname = RailsMultisite::ConnectionManagement.current_hostname
     UserAvatar.local_avatar_template(hostname, username.downcase, uploaded_avatar_id)
   end
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def self.letter_avatar_color(username)
-    username = username || ""
+    username ||= ""
     color = LetterAvatar::COLORS[Digest::MD5.hexdigest(username)[0...15].to_i(16) % LetterAvatar::COLORS.length]
     color.map { |c| c.to_s(16).rjust(2, '0') }.join
   end
diff --git a/app/models/user_avatar.rb b/app/models/user_avatar.rb
index f61df736bf7..dd17fd6e3ed 100644
--- a/app/models/user_avatar.rb
+++ b/app/models/user_avatar.rb
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@ class UserAvatar < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def self.local_avatar_url(hostname, username, upload_id, size)
-    version = self.version(upload_id)
-    "#{Discourse.base_uri}/user_avatar/#{hostname}/#{username}/#{size}/#{version}.png"
+    self.local_avatar_template(hostname, username, upload_id).gsub("{size}", size)
   end
 
   def self.local_avatar_template(hostname, username, upload_id)
@@ -49,8 +48,7 @@ class UserAvatar < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def self.external_avatar_url(user_id, upload_id, size)
-    version = self.version(upload_id)
-    "#{Discourse.store.absolute_base_url}/avatars/#{user_id}/#{size}/#{version}.png"
+    self.external_avatar_template(user_id, upload_id).gsub("{size}", size)
   end
 
   def self.external_avatar_template(user_id, upload_id)
diff --git a/app/serializers/admin_post_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/admin_post_serializer.rb
index 2dd29df5c03..a06328d832f 100644
--- a/app/serializers/admin_post_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/admin_post_serializer.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ class AdminPostSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
   attributes :id,
              :created_at,
              :post_number,
-             :name, :username, :avatar_template, :uploaded_avatar_id,
+             :name, :username, :avatar_template,
              :topic_id, :topic_slug, :topic_title,
              :category_id,
              :excerpt,
@@ -29,10 +29,6 @@ class AdminPostSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
     object.user.avatar_template
   end
 
-  def uploaded_avatar_id
-    object.user.uploaded_avatar_id
-  end
-
   def topic_slug
     topic.slug
   end
diff --git a/app/serializers/post_action_user_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/post_action_user_serializer.rb
index b69a2734822..72dbd8e4d82 100644
--- a/app/serializers/post_action_user_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/post_action_user_serializer.rb
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@ class PostActionUserSerializer < BasicUserSerializer
     object.user.username
   end
 
-  def uploaded_avatar_id
-    object.user.uploaded_avatar_id
-  end
-
   def avatar_template
     object.user.avatar_template
   end
diff --git a/app/serializers/topic_post_count_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/topic_post_count_serializer.rb
index 586f9f2d79d..c780d120312 100644
--- a/app/serializers/topic_post_count_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/topic_post_count_serializer.rb
@@ -14,8 +14,4 @@ class TopicPostCountSerializer < BasicUserSerializer
     object[:post_count]
   end
 
-  def uploaded_avatar_id
-    object[:user].uploaded_avatar_id
-  end
-
 end
diff --git a/lib/avatar_lookup.rb b/lib/avatar_lookup.rb
index b1fc1c61692..4af184052a1 100644
--- a/lib/avatar_lookup.rb
+++ b/lib/avatar_lookup.rb
@@ -12,10 +12,7 @@ class AvatarLookup
   private
 
   def self.lookup_columns
-    @lookup_columns ||= [:id,
-                         :email,
-                         :username,
-                         :uploaded_avatar_id]
+    @lookup_columns ||= %i{id email username uploaded_avatar_id}
   end
 
   def users