Twitch Shows Your Emote at 28 Pixels. Most People Design It at 28 Pixels. That's the Problem.
The most common mistake isn't a wrong file format. It's designing an emote at full size, where every detail looks sharp, then shrinking it down and watching it turn into a smudge the moment it's actually posted in chat.
The fix is to design backwards from how it's actually seen: build the 112×112 version first with bold, simple shapes, then shrink it down and check whether it still reads clearly at 28 pixels before you submit anything.
| Size | Where it's actually used | Design priority |
|---|---|---|
| 28×28 px | Default size shown in Twitch chat for everyone | Must read clearly at this size, or it fails the whole point. |
| 56×56 px | Higher-density (Retina-style) displays | Should hold up as a straightforward downscale of the 112px version. |
| 112×112 px | Larger displays and emote picker menus | Design this one first, then shrink it, not the other way around. |
Who can even submit one
- ✦You need Twitch Affiliate or Partner status first. There's no way to submit a custom emote below that tier.
- ✦New Affiliates start with base emote slots split across subscriber tiers, unlocking more as the channel adds Tier 2 and Tier 3 subscriptions, per Twitch's own 2019 update announcement, which is still the framework Twitch uses.
- ✦Twitch reviews every submission before approval. Support won't pre-clear a design over a support ticket before you submit it, per Twitch's own guidance.
A workflow that actually survives the shrink
- 1Start with a subject that reads as a single silhouette: a face, a reaction, one clear object. Anything with fine detail or thin lines disappears at 28px.
- 2If the source photo has a busy or colored background, strip it out first. A transparent background is a hard Twitch requirement, not a style choice, so the emote has to blend into chat rather than sit in a colored box.
- 3Design and export at 112×112 with bold outlines and high contrast, since that's the size Twitch asks you to build from if you want it to auto-generate the smaller two.
- 4Before submitting, shrink your own preview down to 28×28 and actually look at it at that size. If the expression or subject is still unclear, simplify further before you upload.
- 5Pick an emote code that's easy to type in a fast-moving chat: short, no spaces, distinct from your other emotes.
If a photo is your starting point
A lot of emotes start life as a real photo, a streamer's face mid-reaction, a pet, a screenshot. That photo almost always needs its background stripped out before it becomes a usable transparent PNG, which the Background Remover does directly in the browser, and it's often lower resolution than the clean 112×112 source Twitch wants, which the Image Upscaler can fix without the result turning soft. Once it's sized and transparent, the Twitch Emote Resizer exports all three required sizes from a single source image in one pass.
What are the exact required Twitch emote sizes?
28×28, 56×56, and 112×112 pixels, all as PNG files with a transparent background, per Twitch's own emote documentation.
Can I submit an emote as a regular Twitch viewer?
No. You need Twitch Affiliate or Partner status before the option to submit a custom emote appears at all.
Why does my emote look fine in my editor but blurry in chat?
Chat displays most emotes at 28×28 pixels by default. Fine detail and thin lines that look sharp at full size collapse into noise at that size, so the design has to be simplified for the smallest version, not just resized.
Do I have to upload all three sizes myself?
No. You can upload one square image between 112×112 and 4096×4096 pixels and let Twitch generate the 56×56 and 28×28 versions, or submit all three yourself for more control over each one.
How long does Twitch take to approve a new emote?
Twitch reviews every submission before it's approved but doesn't publish a fixed turnaround time, and won't pre-approve a design before you submit it through the normal process.
Tools in this guide
Try the tools ✦
Free browser tools that never upload your files.