How to Get Twitch Emote Slots and Make Your First Emotes

Twitch emotes are gated twice: first by status, because only Affiliates and Partners have emote slots, then by review, because every emote is checked before it goes live. This is the whole path in order, with the numbers that matter at each step.

Step 1: reach Affiliate

• •50 followers, 500 minutes streamed across 7 different days, and an average of 3 concurrent viewers, all within the last 30 days.
• •Twitch invites you when the four are met. Accept the invite in the Creator Dashboard, complete the tax and payout forms, and the Emotes page unlocks.

Step 2: know your slots

• •New Affiliates start with a small number of Tier 1 emote slots and unlock more as they gain subscription points; Partners have more, and animated slots come with the status.
• •Slots are per tier. A Tier 2 or Tier 3 emote is only usable by subscribers at that tier, so most channels fill Tier 1 first.
• •Animated slots are separate from static ones. Check the Emotes page for the exact count on your channel, since it moves with sub points.

Step 3: make emotes that read at 28 pixels

The emote most viewers see is the 28 pixel one in chat. That is a fingernail. What survives: one face, one expression, big eyes, two or three colours, a thick outline. What dies: text, fine detail, anything with a background.

• •Make each emote about one reaction: laughing, sad, hype, confused. A set works when each one has a job in chat.
• •Keep the same character across the set so the emotes look like they belong to the channel. The emote pack does this from one photo; the text generator does it if you repeat the same description with a different expression.
• •Test at 28 pixels before uploading. Shrink the image in any viewer and check you can still tell what it is.

Step 4: sizes and upload

1. 1Export a square transparent PNG. Twitch accepts a single upload between 112 and 4096 pixels, under 1 MB, and makes the 28, 56 and 112 pixel versions itself; if the small one comes out blurry, export the three sizes yourself for sharper edges.
2. 2In the Creator Dashboard open Viewer Rewards, then Emotes, and pick a slot at the tier you want.
3. 3Upload, give the emote a code (your channel prefix plus a short name), and submit.
4. 4Wait for review. Twitch checks content and, for animated emotes, flashing and speed. Approved emotes appear in your chat and in the picker for subscribers.

Animated emotes

Animated emotes are GIFs under 1 MB with at most 60 frames, in the same three sizes. A short loop reads better than a long one at 28 pixels. The animated Twitch page produces a six-frame loop and offers all three sizes as downloads.