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Guides · Twitch · 5 minutes

How to add emotes to your Twitch channel

Subscriber emotes are reserved for Twitch affiliate or partner channels. If you do not have that status yet, use the time to prepare your images.

  1. 01

    Check your status

    To upload emotes to your channel, you need to be a Twitch affiliate or partner. Without that status, you cannot publish them.

  2. 02

    Prepare the image

    Draw it square, on a transparent background, and big. The reference sizes are 112, 56 and 28 pixels: it is all in the guide “The right sizes: screens, banners, emotes”. A static emote is prepared as a PNG (1 MB maximum), an animated one as a GIF (60 frames maximum, no flashing more than 3 times per second).

  3. 03

    Open the Emotes section

    Go to your channel's Creator Dashboard. In the left sidebar, click Viewer Rewards, then Emotes, then Subscriber Emotes. Your prefix and your slots by tier are listed there. Its exact location sometimes changes with Twitch's interface.

  4. 04

    Pick your prefix

    If you have no prefix yet, Twitch asks you to set one before your first upload. It starts the code of each of your emotes, for example the prefix followed by “hype”. Choose it carefully: changes are limited (a partner can edit it once every 60 days, everyone else gets a single change after a username change).

  5. 05

    Upload the image

    Click the + under the tier you want, then upload one image per emote. By default, “Auto-resize” mode takes a single square image from 112 to 4096 pixels (under 1 MB) and builds the other sizes for you. If you turn it off, you provide the three sizes yourself (28, 56 and 112 pixels), each under 100 KB. In “Emote Code”, give it a short, readable name: the final code is your prefix followed by that name. Finish with “Upload Emote”.

  6. 06

    Pick the slot and wait for approval

    The emote is saved in your library and placed in a slot of the tier where you clicked. If you upload straight into the library (“Upload New”), it stays inactive until you assign it to an open slot. An affiliate starts with 5 slots; more unlock with sub points. Without instant upload, the emote stays “Pending Approval” while Twitch reviews it, which can take a few days.

  7. 07

    Test it in your chat

    Once the emote is live, type its code in your chat and look at it on both the light and the dark theme.

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