How to Add Emotes in Twitch: Personalizing Your Streaming Experience

Twitch emotes are small images that viewers can use in any Twitch chat to express emotions and ideas. As a streamer, having custom emotes is an excellent way to engage with your community and allow them to communicate in a more personalized way during your streams.

Adding your own unique emotes to Twitch can seem complicated at first, but it’s actually a straightforward process if you understand the requirements. This article will walk you through everything you need to know to add emotes to your Twitch channel, from creating the images to getting them approved and implemented.

Emote Requirements

Before submitting emotes to Twitch for review, you need to ensure they meet the proper specifications:

• Dimensions: Emotes must be square images sized at 112×112 pixels.
• File Type: PNG or GIF format with a max file size of 1 MB.
• Transparency: Images should have transparency around the main subject.
• Subject Matter: Emotes cannot contain anything racist, sexist, hateful, pornographic etc. Twitch reviews all submissions.

Creating Custom Emote Images

You have a few options when creating images for your custom Twitch emotes:

• Hire a Graphic Designer: Many designers specialize in emote creation and can create high-quality, personalized images based on your channel theme and ideas. This gives the best results but costs money.
• Create Your Own: If you have graphic design skills, you can create your own emote images at the proper size and transparency using software like Photoshop. This takes effort but it’s free.
• Emote Template Sites: Some sites offer Twitch emote templates featuring blank characters and shapes for you to customize. This makes it easier if you lack design experience.

Ideally, you want a set of 4-6 colorful and expressive emotes that represent you and your community. Think of common emotions and reactions during your streams.

Getting Affiliate Status

Before you can add custom emotes as a Twitch streamer, you need to reach Twitch Affiliate status by meeting these requirements:

• Stream for at least 7 unique days.
• Stream for at least 500 minutes total.
• Have an average of 3 or more concurrent viewers.
• Gain at least 50 followers.

Check your Creator Dashboard to track your progress towards these goals. Reaching them will unlock your emote slots.

Emote Review and Approval

Once you have Affiliate status, you can submit emotes for review in your Dashboard. The process is:

1. Go to the Affiliate section and click “Upload Emote”.
2. Select your 112×112 PNG/GIF emote image.
3. Enter a name with a maximum of 24 characters.
4. Add descriptions for the emote review team.
5. Click Upload.

Twitch will review your emote to ensure it meets the community guidelines and specifications. This can take up to 2 weeks. Most emotes are approved unless there are technical issues or rule violations.

If your emote gets rejected, you will receive details on why and can re-submit a revised version. Overall, expect at least a few weeks between uploading and using new emotes. Plan accordingly.

Available Emote Slots

As a Twitch Affiliate, you unlock one free emote slot. As your subscriber numbers increase, you earn more slots:

• 50 Subscribers: 2 Emote Slots
• 100 Subscribers: 3 Emote Slots
• 150 Subscribers: 4 Emote Slots
• 200 Subscribers: 5 Emote Slots
• 250 Subscribers: 6 Emote Slots

With six emote slots, you can have quite a diverse and creative collection of emotes for your community to use during streams. Make sure to check your Dashboard and upload additional emotes whenever you qualify for more slots.

Using Emotes in Your Twitch Chat

Once your emotes get approved by Twitch, using them is simple:

• Viewers: Can type the emote name surrounded by colons in chat, e.g. :EmoteName:. Your custom images will appear.
• Streamer: Add the emotes to scenes in your streaming software like OBS or XSplit so they appear below your video and are easy to use.

Encourage viewers to try out new emotes and make chatting more fun. Over time, popular emotes become an inside joke within your community.

Tips for Quality Emotes

Follow these tips for emotes that stand out:

• Uniqueness: Avoid generic ideas like Kappa and make emotes tailored to your personality and channel.
• Animation: Emotes with simple animation like blinking eyes or smiling tend to get used more often.
• Reactions: Expressions showing excitement, shock, laughter etc. make highly relevant reactions to on-stream events.
• References: Channel-specific memes and inside jokes translated into emote form tend to delight viewers.
• Stylized: While you can use photos, drawings or cartoons with bright solid colors tend to look best as small emoticons.

Taking the time to create and add excellent custom emotes helps strengthen the bond between you and your Twitch viewers. Emotes give them a way to share reactions that feels specific to your community. Plus, seeing your emotes spread to other channels acts as free advertising and promotion for your brand. Investing in quality Twitch emotes pays dividends both on and off your stream.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some common questions about adding emotes on Twitch:

How much do custom Twitch emotes cost?

The emote images themselves can be created for free if you design them yourself using templates or tools like GIMP. If hiring a designer, prices vary but expect to pay $5 – $15 per emote.

Can I use emotes from other streamers?

No, you cannot use other streamers’ custom emotes in your channel, as they made them specifically for their communities. You can use globally available emotes like Kappa without issue.

Can I make money from my emotes?

There is no direct monetization, but popular emotes can increase viewership and subscribers which lead to more revenue. Some streamers sell merchandise featuring their custom emotes as well.

How often can I change my emotes?

You are allowed to change your emotes whenever you want. However, keep in mind that removing popular emotes risks alienating long-time community members. Strike a balance between updating and preserving favorites.

Do all emotes need approval?

Yes, all emotes require review and approval by Twitch staff before going live. This is to enforce rules and specifications.

Summary

• Adding emotes helps personalize your channel and Twitch community.
• You need Affiliate status and open emote slots before uploading emotes.
• Emotes must meet size, format and content rules before approval.
• Creative and well-designed emotes encourage engagement and growth.
• Maximize available emote slots as your subscriber count grows.