diff --git a/changelogs/client_server/newsfragments/987.clarification b/changelogs/client_server/newsfragments/987.clarification
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fbc7008c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/client_server/newsfragments/987.clarification
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clarify that the url field in `m.room.avatar` events is not required.
diff --git a/data/event-schemas/schema/m.room.avatar.yaml b/data/event-schemas/schema/m.room.avatar.yaml
index 7d4b90b1..a4777af4 100644
--- a/data/event-schemas/schema/m.room.avatar.yaml
+++ b/data/event-schemas/schema/m.room.avatar.yaml
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ properties:
           - $ref: core-event-schema/msgtype_infos/image_info.yaml
         description: Metadata about the image referred to in `url`.
       url:
-        description: The URL to the image.
+        description: |-
+          The URL to the image. If this property is not present, the room has no avatar. This can be useful
+          to remove a previous room avatar.
         type: string
-    required:
-      - url
     type: object
   state_key:
     description: A zero-length string.