diff --git a/client/components/users/userAvatar.js b/client/components/users/userAvatar.js
index db24b0548..e41180d5d 100644
--- a/client/components/users/userAvatar.js
+++ b/client/components/users/userAvatar.js
@@ -236,8 +236,7 @@ BlazeComponent.extendComponent({
               }
             });
             uploader.on('error', (error, fileData) => {
-              // XXX check for actually returned error
-              self.setError('avatar-too-big');
+              self.setError(error.reason);
             });
             uploader.start();
           }
diff --git a/models/avatars.js b/models/avatars.js
index 59dd2e403..c0a8cfcb4 100644
--- a/models/avatars.js
+++ b/models/avatars.js
@@ -15,8 +15,10 @@ Avatars = new FilesCollection({
   collectionName: 'avatars',
   allowClientCode: true,
   onBeforeUpload(file) {
-    if (file.size <= 72000 && file.isImage) return true;
-    return 'Please upload image, with size equal or less than 72KB';
+    if (file.size <= 72000 && file.type.startsWith("image/")) {
+      return true;
+    };
+    return 'avatar-too-big';
   },
   onAfterUpload: createOnAfterUpload(avatarsBucket),
   interceptDownload: createInterceptDownload(avatarsBucket),