A recent issue we had was with the interface to edit an avatar profile image in BuddyPress. It was locking in an aspect ratio and that was limiting the users.
Here’s a solution to get rid of that aspect ratio lock.
Note: This is not the best solution as your modifying the core (something we don’t do) but BuddyPress leaves us no option.
Browse to: /wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-core/bp-core-cssjs.php
Go to line 62 and comment out the aspectRatio property:
jQuery('#avatar-to-crop').Jcrop({ onChange: showPreview, onSelect: showPreview, onSelect: updateCoords, // aspectRatio: <?php echo $aspect_ratio ?>, */ setSelect: [ 0, 0, <?php echo $full_width?>, <?php echo $full_height?> ] });