Making Your Own Stickers for Messaging Apps

Custom stickers are straightforward to make and the process is poorly documented in scattered form. Here is what each platform requires and how to prepare the images.

The image requirements

Telegram: PNG or WebP, 512 by 512 pixels, transparent background, under 512 KB. Animated stickers use a specific vector animation format; video stickers use WebM.

WhatsApp: WebP, 512 by 512 pixels, transparent background, under 100 KB for static stickers. A tray icon of 96 by 96 is also required.

The 512-pixel square with transparency is the common denominator. Prepare at that size and both platforms are satisfied.

Preparing an image

Cut out the subject. This is the actual work. Most image editors now have a subject-selection tool that does a reasonable job in one click, and phone photo editors increasingly include one. For hair and fuzzy edges, expect to refine by hand.

Add an outline. A white or coloured stroke of a few pixels around the subject is what makes a sticker read clearly against any chat background. Almost every good sticker has one, and its absence is what makes homemade stickers look homemade.

Leave a small margin. Do not run the subject to the edge of the canvas.

Export as PNG with transparency, then convert to WebP if needed. Many online and offline tools convert, and the file size drops considerably.

Check it at small size. A sticker is displayed small. Detail that reads at 512 pixels disappears at 100. Simple, bold subjects work; busy photographs do not.

Publishing on Telegram

Telegram's sticker creation is handled by an official bot.

Start the sticker bot, issue the command to create a new pack, give it a name, then send each image as a file rather than as a photo — sending as a photo compresses it and it will be rejected.

For each image, you assign an emoji that will suggest that sticker.

Publish, and the bot returns a link. Anyone with the link can add the pack.

The pack belongs to your account. You can add, remove and reorder stickers later through the same bot.

Animated and video stickers use the same process with different file requirements. Animated stickers need the vector format, produced by a specific animation plugin; video stickers accept short WebM clips, which is much easier.

Publishing on WhatsApp

WhatsApp does not have an in-app pack creator. Packs are added by third-party applications built against the sticker API.

Choose a sticker-maker app, create a pack inside it, add images, and the app registers the pack with WhatsApp.

Cautions: these apps vary considerably. Several are heavily advertising-supported, and some request more permissions than they need. Pick one with a clear publisher and check what it asks for.

Sharing: packs made this way can be shared with others, who need the same or a compatible app to add them.

Copyright, briefly

Making stickers from film stills, television characters, sports imagery, album art or another artist's illustration is copying someone's work.

For a private pack shared with a few friends, nobody will pursue you. Publishing such a pack publicly is a different matter, and packs based on well-known characters are removed regularly.

If you want packs you can share freely: use your own photographs, your own drawings, or artwork under a licence that permits it. Public-domain and openly licensed image collections are a good source, and licences that require attribution are awkward for stickers, so prefer those that do not.

Photographs of people need their agreement, which matters more than the copyright question. A sticker pack of a friend, made and shared without asking, is a reliable way to annoy them.

Practical tips

Faces and expressions work best. Stickers communicate reaction, and a clear expression does that at any size.

Six to twelve stickers is a good pack. Enough variety, not so many that nobody finds the one they want.

Cover the common reactions: approval, disagreement, laughter, confusion, greeting, thanks.

Consistency matters. A pack with one visual style reads as a pack. A pack of unrelated images reads as a folder.

Test in a real chat before sharing. Backgrounds differ between light and dark themes, and a sticker that looks fine on white can vanish on dark.

The simplest route

If you want one sticker of your cat by this evening: photograph the cat against a plain background, use your phone's built-in subject cutout, add a white outline in any editor, export at 512 square as PNG, and send it to Telegram's sticker bot as a file.

That is about ten minutes, and the second one takes two.

Mistakes people make

Sending images to the sticker bot as photos rather than files. Sending as a photo compresses the image and it will be rejected.

Skipping the outline. A few pixels of white stroke around the subject is what makes a sticker read against any chat background, and its absence is what makes homemade stickers look homemade.

Using a busy photograph. Stickers display small. Detail that reads at 512 pixels disappears at 100.

Not testing on a dark background. A sticker that looks fine on white can vanish in dark mode.

Publishing a pack of copyrighted characters. Private packs are one thing; public packs based on well-known characters are removed regularly.

Making a pack of a friend without asking. A reliable way to annoy them, regardless of the copyright position.

The short answer

512 by 512, transparent background, white outline, simple bold subject, six to twelve stickers covering common reactions. On Telegram, send them to the official sticker bot as files. Test in a real chat in both themes before sharing.