diff --git a/static/js/settings_account.js b/static/js/settings_account.js
index d2afb6960e..478fc13c38 100644
--- a/static/js/settings_account.js
+++ b/static/js/settings_account.js
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ exports.set_up = function () {
         var spinner = $("#upload_avatar_spinner").expectOne();
         loading.make_indicator(spinner, {text: 'Uploading avatar.'});
 
-        channel.put({
+        channel.post({
             url: '/json/users/me/avatar',
             data: form_data,
             cache: false,
diff --git a/zerver/tests/test_upload.py b/zerver/tests/test_upload.py
index 922f66e42a..f213668e89 100644
--- a/zerver/tests/test_upload.py
+++ b/zerver/tests/test_upload.py
@@ -614,7 +614,7 @@ class AvatarTest(UploadSerializeMixin, ZulipTestCase):
         self.login(self.example_email("hamlet"))
         with get_test_image_file('img.png') as fp1, \
                 get_test_image_file('img.png') as fp2:
-            result = self.client_put_multipart("/json/users/me/avatar", {'f1': fp1, 'f2': fp2})
+            result = self.client_post("/json/users/me/avatar", {'f1': fp1, 'f2': fp2})
         self.assert_json_error(result, "You must upload exactly one avatar.")
 
     def test_no_file_upload_failure(self):
@@ -624,7 +624,7 @@ class AvatarTest(UploadSerializeMixin, ZulipTestCase):
         """
         self.login(self.example_email("hamlet"))
 
-        result = self.client_put_multipart("/json/users/me/avatar")
+        result = self.client_post("/json/users/me/avatar")
         self.assert_json_error(result, "You must upload exactly one avatar.")
 
     correct_files = [
@@ -705,7 +705,7 @@ class AvatarTest(UploadSerializeMixin, ZulipTestCase):
             # with self.subTest(fname=fname):
             self.login(self.example_email("hamlet"))
             with get_test_image_file(fname) as fp:
-                result = self.client_put_multipart("/json/users/me/avatar", {'file': fp})
+                result = self.client_post("/json/users/me/avatar", {'file': fp})
 
             self.assert_json_success(result)
             json = ujson.loads(result.content)
@@ -744,7 +744,7 @@ class AvatarTest(UploadSerializeMixin, ZulipTestCase):
             # with self.subTest(fname=fname):
             self.login(self.example_email("hamlet"))
             with get_test_image_file(fname) as fp:
-                result = self.client_put_multipart("/json/users/me/avatar", {'file': fp})
+                result = self.client_post("/json/users/me/avatar", {'file': fp})
 
             self.assert_json_error(result, "Could not decode image; did you upload an image file?")
             user_profile = self.example_user('hamlet')
@@ -776,7 +776,7 @@ class AvatarTest(UploadSerializeMixin, ZulipTestCase):
         self.login(self.example_email("hamlet"))
         with get_test_image_file(self.correct_files[0][0]) as fp:
             with self.settings(MAX_AVATAR_FILE_SIZE=0):
-                result = self.client_put_multipart("/json/users/me/avatar", {'file': fp})
+                result = self.client_post("/json/users/me/avatar", {'file': fp})
         self.assert_json_error(result, "Uploaded file is larger than the allowed limit of 0 MB")
 
     def test_get_avatar_url_with_user_profile_lookup(self):
diff --git a/zproject/urls.py b/zproject/urls.py
index 2572e9b20c..9d8534525a 100644
--- a/zproject/urls.py
+++ b/zproject/urls.py
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ v1_api_and_json_patterns = [
     url(r'^users/me/enter-sends$', rest_dispatch,
         {'POST': 'zerver.views.user_settings.change_enter_sends'}),
     url(r'^users/me/avatar$', rest_dispatch,
-        {'PUT': 'zerver.views.user_settings.set_avatar_backend',
+        {'POST': 'zerver.views.user_settings.set_avatar_backend',
          'DELETE': 'zerver.views.user_settings.delete_avatar_backend'}),
 
     # users/me/hotspots -> zerver.views.hotspots