What Are Twitch Emotes & How to Make Them (2024)

Twitch is a platform that has its own language. You know the feeling when you are invited to a friend meeting and you do not know most of them. They are talking about something but you are neither familiar with the topic nor the special language they are using. It happens on Twitch as well, making a newcomer ask: What are Twitch emotes?

On Twitch, everything happens so fast that there is not enough time for communication. That is where Twitch emotes kick in. Emotes shorten the communication on every platform but on Twitch they actually have a lot to tell. They have different meanings and expressions.

Some of the Famous Twitch Emotes

Emotes of Twitch are quite famous. Many wonder what they mean. Now let’s take a look at some of the most famous emotes on Twitch.

Kappa

As widely used emote, Kappa is the emote of sarcasm. The emote is based on Josh DeSeno, a former Justin.TV employee who set up a chat client and got charged for it. If you want to make a sarcastic reply to a streamer when he or she makes an odd move.

Trihard

It was made by a streamer called TriHex. He was trying hard to get the attention of a Twitch employee while hanging out in the chat section. He did everything to get their attention and tried too hard. At the end he became Trihard.

Although it is pretty fun to use this emote, it is rather a controversial one. This emote includes an African American citizen and some users started to use this emote when they watch a black streamer. Later it was considered as racial abuse and used very carefully.

It is the emote to use when you are excited about what is happening on the screen. Remember to use it carefully not to offend anyone.

Pogchamp

Being one of the oldest emotes on Twitch, it is based on a professional Street Fighter player. It is used for expressing surprise since the face resembles a surprized look. Unlike Trihard, it is very safe to use this emote, that is why it is used commonly.

4Head

As you can guess from the name, 4Head is based on the large face of Cadburry, a League of Legends streamer. It can be used for many reasons but mainly it is used for reacting a joke. It can be used as sarcastic or sincere.

LUL

It is the emote equivalent to ‘lol’ on Twitch. It is based on the laughing face of TotalBiscuit, a streamer, and a Youtuber. There is an interesting history with this emote. TotalBiscuit added this emote himself. After it became popular, the photographer who took the photo wanted it to be removed. 

Due to legal issues, TotalBiscuit re-uploaded the photo as BTTV version, which became quite popular as well.

It is used to express deep laugh.

Sourpls

One of the oldest emotes on Twitch. It shows a Twitch employee dancing in a store with a happy face. The name comes from the Youtuber who uploaded the video, SourNotHardcore. Despite being one of the oldest emotes, it is still quite popular and used for celebrating good things on stream.

Feelsbadman and Feelsgoodman

Based on the variations of Pepe the Frog character created by Matt Furie, they are two of the most popular emotes on Twitch. In fact, their fame has stepped out of Twitch and became a popular meme of other platforms, such as Whatsapp.

As you can guess from their names, they are used for either expressing a sad feeling or a happy feeling.

Monkas

This is another version of Pepe the Frog character. It has a ‘stressed out’ look with a worried face and sweat. This is another emote which has stepped out Twitch as well. It is commonly used on Reddit and Twitter. It is also used in many different streams because it is useable for many occasions. If you are feeling anxious you can use this during a stream.

KreyGasm

KreyGasm is an emote that tells users’ surprises and pleasure when something incredibly unexpected and surprising happens during the game or broadcast. This emote belongs to a streamer, which is name is Kreyg, it is his face when he looks really pleasured about something.

FailFish

FailFish emote, as the name suggests, is often used in very bad situations, in cases of failure. This emote’s creator is the famous Twitch streamer SpamFish.

FrankerZ

FrankerZ emote is a dog emote. This emote comes from a real dog which’s name is actually Frankie, and it is the dog of the Twitch employee Ernest Le. He has turned his dog’s face into an emote. The purpose of FrankerZ’s face emote to be used in conversations is to represent the Shiba Inu dog.

ResidentSleeper

ResidentSleeper emote is an expression that audiences use when trying to explain that they are very bored while watching the broadcast. If you see people are using this emote in the chat, it means they want to say that they will almost fall asleep now. If you are a former Twitch user, you will know Oddler, who fell asleep during the 72-hour Resident Evil game marathon, and this emote is his face when he fell asleep.

SwiftRage

SwiftRage emote means two things in Twitch. You can send this emote when you feel really angry or so focused that no one can stop or control your excitement. This emote belongs to a famous steamer Swiftor on Twitch.

How to Make Twitch Emotes

Twitch emotes are very interesting and tell a lot. That is why users would like to create Twitch emotes by themselves. We all have that idea that we find very suitable to make it a meme. Here are some pieces of advice for making your Twitch emotes.

Twitch Partnership Program

Twitch offers a partnership program. If you are a partner, you can make Twitch emotes by yourself from the dashboard. To become a partner, there are some requirements such as;

• At least 500 minutes of broadcast in the last 30 days
• At least 7 different broadcast days in the last 30 days
• Average of 3 concurrent views or more in the last 30 days
• Having at least 50 followers

Third-Party Apps

If you are not interested in becoming a partner you can use third-party apps for creating your emotes. You can use apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Paint.net, BetterTTV and GIMP. Be careful when you are making your emotes because they have to be 32 bit PNG files with transparency. Dimensions should be 28 x 28, 56 x 56 or 112 x 112. 

Twitch will not allow larger images so try always check the file size. However, the file is not the only thing you should consider when creating your emotes. Twitch has some policies about the content of your emotes. Here is the list of what you should not contain in your emotes;

• Hateful conduct
• Harassment
• Threats of violence
• Obscene content
• Sexual content
• Nudity
• Illegal drugs
• Vulgarity
• Glorifying or encouraging violations of Twitch Community Guidelines
• Politics
• Animations
• Individual letters and characters
• Violations of Twitch Brand Assets Guidelines
• Emotes based on Twitch global emotes

Twitch Emotes in Short

We have touched upon what are Twitch emotes and how to make them. We explained the uniqueness of the communication on Twitch via emotes and the idea behind them. After including some of the most famous Twitch emotes, we mentioned how to make your own emotes on Twitch. For more information about Twitch, please read our latest articles about it.