How to Make Twitch Emotes – So that your viewers don’t get bored in the chat, you can create your own Twitch emotes that your followers can use in addition to games & co. Here you can find out how to create Subscriber Emotes, what technical requirements there are and what else you need to know about Twitch Emotes.
But before you can come up with great emotes and use them in your chat, there is a small obstacle. In order to use Twitch Emotes, you have to become a Twitch Affiliate. At least that’s easier than being accepted into the exclusive club of partners.
Already a Twitch Affiliate? Then our instructions for creating Twitch Emotes will surely help you. We’ll start at this point with the “dry theory”, the popular technical details – as a small apology, a clear guide to creating your emotes follows directly afterwards.
Table of Contents
The technical requirements for Twitch Emotes
First of all: Every sub emotes you design is checked by Twitch before you can use it. This usually happens within one to three days. To ensure everything runs smoothly, you should follow these guidelines:
Twitch Emote Size:
- be created in .png format with a transparent background
- be a maximum of 25 kb in size
- in the dimensions 28×28 px / 56×56 px / 112×112 px
Since June 2021 you can also create and use animated Twitch emotes. For this, the emotes should:
- be created in .gif format
- maximum size of 512 kb
- in the dimensions 28×28 px / 56×56 px / 112×112 px
- Gif images must not exceed 60 frames
Meanwhile, emotes can also be automatically resized. The size must be square and between 112 x 112 pixels and 4096 x 4096 pixels. In this case, the maximum file size is 1 MB. This applies to both classic and animated Twitch emotes.
4 Things Causing your Emote not to Unlock On Twitch
- Your emote will be associated with these undesirable topics that Twitch does not tolerate:
- harassment
- defamation
- hate speech
- political extremism
- vulgar expressions
- Drugs & Violence
- Sexual Content
- You are using a graphic that does not belong to you as an emote and is thereby infringing on a copyright.
- Your emote represents individual letters or characters (for example “A”).
- Your emoticon builds on global Twitch emotes.
You Can Create So Many Emotes
The number of emotes you can create depends on your ” Subscriber Points “. This means that as an affiliate you only have the option of uploading 1 Twitch Emote per sub-level for the time being. You can create an emote for a $4.99, subscription to your channel.
The same goes for Twitch Prime Subs. Another emote for a subscription of $9.99 and another emote for a subscription of $24.99. Then there are the Subscriber Points, which allow you to create even more Twitch Emotes. For them it looks like this:
- 0 subscriber points = 1 emote
- 15 subscriber points = 2 emotes
- 25 subscriber points = 3 emotes
- 35 subscriber points = 4 emotes
- 50 subscriber points = 5 emotes
Viewers who “only” follow you earn you a sub-point. Subscribers who pay $9.99 a month earn you 2 sub-points and subscribers who pay $24.99 earn you a whopping 6 sub-points.
Tip: Even without subscriber points, you can submit 2 emotes as a Twitch Affiliate.
How to Upload Twitch Emotes
To upload Twitch emotes, first click on your profile picture and then open the creator dashboard. Once there, click on Community Rewards.
You can now select the Emotes tab in the viewer rewards. You have three slots available for the time being. To upload an emote, click an empty slot. A new window will then open. You can upload your emote there and also enable/disable auto-sizing. If you already have your emote in the three correct sizes, you can simply switch off the checkmark next to “automatic resizing”.
You can also upload animated emotes there if you are already activated for the function. This is happening on Twitch from time to time. We will soon have a new, detailed guide for animated Twitch Emotes available for you.
How to Make Twitch Emotes – online and offline
Now it’s getting exciting because now we’re dealing with the design of your personal emotes for Twitch ! You can use different graphics programs to create these emotes.
How to Make Twitch Emotes in GIMP is a good tool for creating Twitch Emotes for free . The program is beginner-friendly and comes with everything you need. The comprehensive Adobe Photoshop can be recommended as a paid alternative.
The Basic Rule Here is: Less is More!
The smaller the image dimensions, the fewer details are recognized in the end. Do without complex color gradients and a number of details, then editing will also be easier.
Tip: Choose an image or graphic that is high-resolution at 128×128 px . Otherwise, if you choose a resolution that is too low, your Twitch Emote will end up looking pixelated (which is only intentional in rare cases).
Here is the difference – in high resolution on the left, very pixelated on the right:
Instructions: Create Twitch Emotes for free with Gimp
Once you’ve downloaded and installed GIMP, you’re almost done. Because creating Twitch Emotes is easier than you think. To illustrate the process vividly, there is friendly support from the little space invader Plimplom.
Step 1: Open Your Future Emote With Gimp
Run the program and click ” File → Open ” in the top left. Now select the image or graphic that will soon serve as an emote.
Step 2: Remove the Unwanted Background
Use the magic wand tool to mark the area that you don’t want to be visible afterwards. Alternatively, you can use the lasso tool to select an area by hand.
Remove the area by cutting it with Ctrl-X. The transparent background is now displayed to you in the form of light and dark gray squares.
Read Also: How to Create Twitch banner or Gaming banner?
Source: Screenshot of Gimp Tip: With the freehand selection you usually mark the area that should be preserved. To change this, use the shortcut Ctrl-i , then your selection will be reversed.
Step 3: Save Your Twitch Emote Correctly
To save the emote with a transparent background, please save the image as a .png. Otherwise, your emote will keep getting a white background.
Instructions: Create Twitch Emotes online and for free with Pixlr
You don’t need to download or install Pixlr. You can use the program directly in your browser at any time completely free of charge and immediately create Twitch Emotes. The range of functions is quite impressive. Also on board with these instructions: Plimplom.
Step 1: Open your Future Emote With Pixlr
To do this, visit the website (you may have to activate your Flash player) and simply press the ” Start Editing ” button. On the new page, select “Open Image” and upload the image you want to edit.
Step 2: Remove the Unwanted Background
Click on the scissors on the left side of the screen. Choose the magic wand ( Magic CutOut ) and with just one click you have removed a solid color background. Here, too, you can alternatively draw in the shape yourself with the lasso tool.

Tip : To invert your selection, you have to click on ” Invert Cutout ” on the left side of the screen.
Step 3: Save Your Twitch Emote Correctly
Again, you should save your image as a .png file so that the background remains transparent. You can do this by clicking on “Save” at the bottom right, selecting “.png” and then clicking on ” Download “.

This is how you get the emotes in your Twitch chat
Once the Twitch Emote has been created, all you have to do is upload it. This step also turns out to be quite easy once you know the details and generally have some basic knowledge about streaming on Twitch .
First you open your settings and go to channel – affiliate. There you select the “Emotes” tab.
Note: You cannot change the prefix of your emotes. But the unique code.
For example, your prefix Plimplom would come out as the name of the emote.
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You save your emote by clicking on “Save changes” at the bottom of the page. It may take a while before you can use your emote. Just keep trying.
Create Twitch Emotes – quick and easy
For those who don’t feel like bothering with creating Twitch Emotes or simply don’t have a creative streak, there is the possibility to have Twitch Emotes created.
Yes, Custom Twitch Emotes According to Your Taste.
There are many artists who create Twitch Emotes for little money or make entire overlays according to your ideas. A useful contact point is, for example, the Fiverr platform, on which various freelancers offer their skills. Alternatively, you can also look around on the online marketplace Etsy.